Kismet
by ProbableLurker
Summary: In which Jack is a transient serial killer who accidentally meets his emotionally fragile soul-mate Rhys at a rest stop. Jack is surprised someone like him would even have a soul-mate, and Rhys is surprised that someone like Jack could be nice to someone like him. Handsome Jack/Rhys Warnings for Suicide, self-harm, past rape/noncon, past abuse and murder...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One.**

* * *

Jack met his soul-mate in the same way most people do, by complete and utter accident. He had been traveling back to his home after a good _hunting season,_ when he saw him limping towards the caravan Jack had gotten from his last kill, a small makeshift family of Gypsies.

He strangled the father while the two girls watched before he slit the older ones throat, the other one he gutted. He chuckled thinking of how the younger one had the audacity to vomit on the floor and he made her clean it up before he put her out of her misery. Jack leaned against the door of the vehicle, taking a break to stretch his legs before he heads back home for the summer.

No one even looked for them. Transients were easy, you could literally get away with murder if no one knows they're missing. He looked back at the boy who he decided to dub, Cupcake in lieu of a name. He's just his type; pretty, young, and so fucking _desperate._ Part of Jack wants to keep him, the other part of him wants to kill him. The part that wants to keep him is surprisingly winning. It's weird, he's never really wanted to keep one before. With this kid though, the urge to put his thumb against cupcakes pulse points and kiss him hard and feel his hammering heart beat overwhelms the normal compulsion to crush his windpipe and watch the light go out of his eyes.

"Can you help me?" Cupcake looks a mess, Jack thinks and he feels a pang of jealousy for not being the one to cause it. His longish hair was sitting askew, covering half of his tear-track stained face.

His over-sized sweater threadbare and torn in a few places, the material sagged off of his shoulder revealing a litter of ugly bruises and cuts over the nice blue tattoos he has. He's only got one arm, but no prosthesis, he might have not realized if it weren't for the sewn over side where his arm should have been.

"I-I normally...Normally I wouldn't ask but-" he pauses, shifts through his pockets, pulling out a carefully folded up napkin. "I have money! I just need a ride and-" Jack grabbed the extended wrist, he's about to tell him to put that chump change back in his pocket. Instead, he's pleasantly surprised at the glow the touch gives. _So that explains it,_ he thinks, _Big bad_ _Handsome Jack's got a soul-mate,_ _Nish'll have a field day with this one._

"Well, would'ya lookit that." he mutters to himself, Cupcake hadn't noticed it. He scrapes his nail over Cupcake's pulse point and he flinches, but it melts into a content sigh when he realizes that Jack doesn't intend to hurt him.

"Get in cupcake." he orders opening the door of the vehicle. He allows himself a small chuckle as the younger man stumbles over his own lanky legs as he gets into the caravan.

 _Wow this kid is either really trusting, really naive or just doesn't care if he lives through the night._ Judging by the bruises and cuts all over Cupcakes slim form, he wouldn't blame him if he was at least passively suicidal.

He sits on an old mattress, folding his hands in his lap demurely as if he's a doll waiting for some kind of command to wind him up. Jack moves to sit next to him, without notice he grabs his wrist again and Cupcake gasps, Jack thinks its cute.

He's a skittish, broken little thing and that just makes Jack want to take care of him. He wants to put those pieces back together and turn him in to something beautiful. Make him something better than he was.

"You're my…?" he trails off but he's sure Jack gets the message.

"Sure thing, sweetheart. You and me." he assures, clapping a hand on his shoulder in what he hopes would reassure his younger partner, "We're gonna have a nice long talk about all of this, alright?"

* * *

He lets Cupcake sit next to him while he drives so he can ask his Soulmate-apparent everything he needs to know. "Name, cupcake?" Cupcake mumbles something, and Jack reiterates it, "Speak up."

"Rhys." he repeats, a little bit too loud. "What's yours?" he adds, when Jack tells him it's a pretty name.

"Jack. How old are you?" he's pretty sure that Rhys is an adult, but just barely. Jack looks over at him, Rhys is just as tall as him but still so very tiny. Probably malnourished, his clothes were literally falling off of him. Jack makes a mental note to get some of those calorie shakes and some better fitting clothing for him on his next stop.

"Um, I turned eighteen about a week ago. My parents. They um, they threw me out on my birthday so..."

"Why would they go and do something stupid like that?" the older man grumbles, but he thinks that he might just pay them a visit in the future. Rhys shrugged, not sure how to tell Jack the ugly truth of it.

 _Well, my step-father would get drunk and rapes me sometimes. I tried to tell my mother and she screamed at me about how I'm a filthy_ _little_ _liar,_ _how I'm a whore, and all I want to do is ruin her life and punish her._

That sort of thing doesn't seem like something he wants to divulge to Jack, no matter how relaxing the other mans mere presence is. He wonders if that's how it is with soul-mates, all consuming. If so he can empathize with the instability his mother felt after his dad died.

"What did you do for a week?" he asks, softer than he usually would, "You know since they kicked you out on your birthday..?"

"I've been trying to get a ride to Helios for the last week but I haven't had any luck." the last person he had gotten a ride from had been handsy at best. Objectively speaking, he had tried to rape him and beat him black and blue when Rhys had fought him off.

"Well it's a good thing I found ya then, huh?" at Rhys' confused glance he added, "Cause, i'm gonna take extra good care of ya, Babydoll." Jack grinned wolfishly at him, and Rhys allowed himself a tiny smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two.**

 _The first time Jack killed someone it was in the defense of his brother._

 _Tim was smaller, gentler, easier to get along with. He was a good kid, and Jack was the trouble-maker. You could say what you wanted to him but Jack had always protected his little-in the broadest of terms, seeing as he was only two minutes older-brother._

 _He had to, Granny Lawrence was a mean old bitch. **He** could take a beating, but Timmy? No chance in hell that he'd let that old halitosis ridden cunt get her filthy hands on him._

 _It seemed only fitting that he went into a rage the first time she got the chance to hurt Tim the way she hurt him. He always took the blame whether or not it was deserved, made it less messy but this time she wouldn't let him take the fall and it drove him crazy._

 _He doesn't exactly remember specifics, all he can think is in that moment he saw red, all of the abuse; all of the terror ridden sleepless nights, all of the scars and bruises that littered his body came into fruition in that one moment. Jack felt righteous and vengeful as he bashed her skull in with the buzz-saw that she had always used to punish them._

" _Jack, oh god man. What did you...oh my god, what'd you do? She's dead…ohh my god you killed her." Tim babbled looking wildly from the new corpse lying in the middle of the kitchen to Jack. Jack on the other hand felt relaxed, relieved even. He felt better than he had in years, the hyper-vigilant tension that had been in his shoulders since mommy-fucking-dearest left them in the maniacal hands of their grandmother so she could go party._

 _Jack gave a long contented sigh as he looked at his twin. "We should get rid of her." Jack said, in the same tone one would say 'do you want to get Chinese tonight?'_

" _What? Jack there's a dead woman in our kitchen, our grandmother! Doesn't that bother you, a little bit?" Tim looked lost, like he was veering back and forth from terror to relief and terror won... **big**. All he could think was that in that moment for the first time in his life Jack scared him._

" _Well she shouldn't have tried to hurt you." he growled and Tim instinctively let out a distressed noise, he looked panicked and Jack put his arms around his brother, protective arms encroached around him in a vice-like grip. Tim struggled in an anxious fit for a moment before the tactile comfort worked on him and he leans into Jacks hug. He couldn't help it, all they had was each other._

 _That kind of disenfranchisement from family led to the twins being so close that it bordered on co-dependency._

" _Hey, I'll take care of this okay, kiddo? I'm gonna write a letter, an abandonment note." Jack had been able to forge his grandmothers signature since he was a child, terrified of any sort of wrath invoked in needing her signature. Tim looked at him oddly and he shrugged at his twin, "Look it's not like its out of character. She decided to leave us, she doesn't want to be burdened by us anymore, Timmy." he laughed clear and giddy, "Ha ha, oh man! I mean **fuck!** Why didn't we think of this before?"_

 _He whistled a happy little tune as he got to work on cutting the dead parts of his "Caretaker" up in to small chance as to dispose of her. Jack thought that he could get used to this kind of power because he felt good, better than good, he felt **ALIVE**. He hadn't started the day out intending to kill someone, but that didn't make it feel any less thrilling._

 _Jack is honestly surprised he never got caught for it, he was sloppy. Juvenile, not that it didn't make sense seeing as he had only been sixteen when his grandmother had "gone missing" but no one had questioned it and he'd been placed in the system,_

 _He and his brother had been placed in a small foster home where he laid low until he'd graduated with honors and a full ride to MIT while Tim got as far away from him as possible, he had been livid at the time but now that he thought about it Jack couldn't really blame him._

 _He supposed everything worked out in the end; he had his own company, more money than he knew what to do with, a couple of friends, and as of last night a pretty boy curled up on his lap to call his own._

* * *

Jack was snapped out of his reverie with gentle but insistent tugging on his sweater, when he looked over at Rhys fidgeting with the material of his yellow top. He gave Rhys a look that turned into a chuckle when he saw the younger males flushed, embarrassed face. Fuck, this kid was so cute he was able to give a psychopath like him the warm and fuzzies.

He realized in that moment that Rhys had potential; with his long legs, pretty face and innocent disposition, he could make a great honey-trap. _We'll_ _work up to that later_ , he thought. For now he focused on making Rhys feel good and safe in Jack's arms.

"Hey-a Rhysie." Jack hummed, looking over at the boy cuddled up on his lap, Jack smiled at him and carded his fingers through the wavy auburn hair of his soul-mate.

Rhys made happy little noises in the back of his throat and leaned into the touch. Jack guessed his cupcake wasn't used to being touched nicely and soaked up the affection whenever he could, "What's up?"

"Well, I um..." Rhys trailed off, "I just..."

"Yeah, kitten?"

"I was wondering if this is where you live?" his younger partner asked, "in this car?" not that Rhys had a problem with the caravan. It was cozy, and it felt nice like home. It was different from the house he had grown up in; when he was there he felt tense, uncomfortable and at best unsafe.

"Nah Sweetness, I just like to use this for my road trips."

 _So that's what they call it nowadays Jackie,_ _R_ _oad trips?_ His inner monologue quipped, and Jack ignored it with a kind of annoyed indifference that he usually saved for...well, most things not ending in bloodshed.

"I've got a nice place up in Opportunity." He grinned at the younger male, "you ever been to Opportunity, sugar?"

Rhys shook his head, Opportunity was a big city full of diverse people of course Rhys had never been there. He had never even been out of Sanctuary which held the record for the highest amount of horrible people residing in closed in small towns. "Well lucky you then, I was on my way back when I found you. We'll be getting there soon but first we're going to get you fixed up."

"Fixed up?" he asked, "Jack, what does that mean?"

"Yeah, you know doctors, new clothes...the whole fucking shebang." Jack ran a hand down Rhys' back, he adored the sighs and mewls his soul-mate gave him when he was affectionately touched were quickly becoming a favored past-time for Jack. "I've got some plans for today Rhysie."

"Oh, Jack you don't have to do anything like that." in one fluid motion Jack had Rhys slammed against the cushioned back of the caravan's makeshift bed, overwhelmed by the worry of being hurt again and the dull pain of hard wood edges digging into his back had Rhys sputtering, _"_ _I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"_ over and over. Rhys looked at him in terror, not entirely sure what he did to upset Jack and all too willing to do anything to fix it.

 _Greeeeaaaaat job asshole, you managed to scare this kid off in a record time of three hours! Slow clap dude, really._ Jack hated his own thoughts, he hated them more than any person he had ever killed and that included his grandmother. They were just so flippant and he was really not in the mood for attitude coming out of whatever bits and pieces of a conscience he had left.

He remembered who Rhys was in that moment and loosened his grip on the younger man. With relative ease he pulled the younger man into his lap. He held his arms on Rhys' hips tight, not daring to allow him wiggle-room away from Jack.

"What part of me taking good care of you do you not understand Rhys?" he murmured, using his thumbs to draw circles in the younger males jutting hipbones. The movements were gentle, meant to soothe and judging by the way Rhys had gone from shaking and sobbing to slumping bonelessly against Jack it worked.

"Well I guess it the you being nice to me and...you know, not hurting me part? I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you-" he babbled, calmer than he was moments before. He held onto the older mans overcoat like it was an anchor and he was lost at sea.

"Stop apologizing, I lost my temper. I fucked up and that's on me, not you." he cut Rhys off with his own emotionally deadened version of an apology. He became irritated with his own thoughts that were blaring because he really wanted to grab Rhys and say, _I'm sorry. This_ _is all new to me too, Rhysie. You make me feel_ _things_ _, and that's new to me._

"Sorry- wait I mean! I-okay. Yeah...I get it. It's okay." Rhys hummed, it was easy to forgive Jack for reasons he wasn't entirely sure he could comprehend on his own.

"Just like that, huh."at Rhys meek nod Jack smirked, "You're somethin' else, babe." he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Rhys' head, smoothing the dense auburn bangs out of his face.

* * *

 _Rhys_ _looks around and comes to the realization that he's_ _back home, home being relative to how one would define the word. But he was there, scared and shaking. He felt small as he lay curled in the fetal position on his small be_ _d, waking up_ _feeling_ _sticky_ _and filthy_ _in the morning, as he usually did from his step-father, Frank's, "_ _nighttime visit_ _s"_

 _He wasn't stupid, he knew that no matter how it was sugarcoated he didn't deserve to be treated like he was. There was just nothing he could do to stop it but the neglect and cruelty being pounded into his head day after day got to him. Eventually he realized that although he couldn't leave physically so he found a way to go away mentally._

 _Over the years of abuse, dissociating became his favorite past-time. He would go to places he had never been, speak to people he would never meet and do things he couldn't ever dream of doing._

 _R_ _hys sighed, he hastily stripped off his dirtied clothes and got into his shower. He kept the temperature just below scalding and scrubbed his entire body until he was red._

 _Sometimes he_ _scrubbed so hard that he_ _broke skin and bled, those days were kind of nice; he would watch the blood as it washed off his body and swam into the drain, tinging the water pink._

 _He chuckled bitterly, "Hello my name is Rhys,_ _I'm a Gemini and my hobbies include; Dissociating, self-harm, and fantasizing about the_ _ **hopefully**_ _violent death of my piece of shit step-father."_ _he snarked in the voice of a_ _cheesy game show_ _announcer._

 _H_ _e didn't really think about school other than he had to graduate or he would never be able to get out. He had no friends and he didn't make any attempt to, anytime someone came close to friendliness with him they were scared off so he saved himself the_ _disappointment._ _H_ _e had been in his own world when the clattering of a lunch tray broke him out of his thoughts._

" _Hey I'm Vaughn."_ _Rhys was_ _so surprised that anyone was even talking to him, he was usually either tormented or avoided like the plague, that he checked around to see if Vaughn was_ _just_ _speaking to someone else and looking at him. It happens more than you'd think._

" _Hi."_ _he laughed nervously as Vaughn eyed the dark hand-print shaped bruise on his forearm and lowered his sleeve. "_ _It's um...it's nothing, really."_

 _Vaughn looked at him oddly and he shrugged._ _Okay, so he was a little uneducated socially. That didn't bother him anymore, he was smart enough to keep 4.8 weighted GPA at school and survive a personal hell at home._

" _And you are…?"_ _the bespectacled boy coaxed_ _in the same way one would with a small frightened animal._

" _What_ _?"_ _and then, when the words made sense in his brain "_ _oh, um..._ _I'm Rhys._ _Listen, you_ _might want to leave me alone Vaughn, I'm kind of a pariah here."_ _it sounded rude but it wasn't meant to be, Vaughn seemed nice but he was small. If he hung out with_ _Rhys he may as well have signed_ _his own_ _death sentence._

 _Personally,_ _he had his own theory that Frank paid the local kids to make his school life just as bad as his home life, and he didn't want to subject another person to that kind of pain._

" _So you're weird, that's it?"_ _he laughed in good nature, "That's your deal?"_

" _Yeah, you could say that."_ _he replied,_ _ **If weird is defined by**_ _ **how much fear**_ _ **and self-loathing you feel**_ _ **everyday then yeah, I'm a little weird**_ _ **.**_ _He thought grimly but smiled warmly at the person sitting across from him._ __

 _He wanted to be friends with Vaughn, he genuinely seemed to be a good person and that was hard to come by in Sanctuary. He was just not sure how genuine someone could be, whatever the case he was sure that he'd be left alone pretty soon._

" _ **Whatever**_ _bro, I'm weird too."_

* * *

"ees. Rhysie. Rhys!" Jack was snapping his fingers in Rhys' face, he looked around in bewilderment. He realized that he was sitting closely next to his soul-mate and that they were not in the caravan. He was used to losing time but not _that_ much time.

"Hey kitten, where'd ya go? Somewhere nice, I guess." his kiddo had this dopey little smile, and Jack would never tell anyone but he found it really endearing. He found that a lot of things about Rhys where endearing to him.

"Somewhere nice." He agreed, still feeling a little hazy after being snapped out of his dissociative fugue. He worried for a moment that Jack would think he was crazy and abandon him here. Soul-mate or not, but he didn't seem to mind and snaked an arm against the younger mans waist.

 _Jack's really tactile,_ he thought, _I like that._

He had never minded being touched, at least not the way he was being touched at that moment.

As long as he wasn't being smacked around, humiliated or beaten he was good, in fact he craved the affection more than he thought that he should.

"Oh, where are we?" he asked, looking around the vicinity, he felt relieved when it appeared to be a roadside diner. He was so hungry, he just felt bad asking Jack for anything. Realistically, he understood that Jack wanted to do things for him but his pride was a juggernaut that he couldn't disagree with more often than not.

"Shit, I think it's like an IHOP or something?" Jack ventured, "I wasn't really paying attention too well cupcake. Aaaaaaanyways, order whatever you want. Or I'll order something for ya, either way you're eating something." it wasn't a request, Rhys had almost passed out earlier that morning and all of Jack's alarm bells were going off. He was not-repeat not-finding out he had a soul-mate only to lose him in the same week so if he had to force-feed him in the middle of a restaurant he would.

"Can I at least help pay?" it occurred to Jack that Rhys _might_ have a little with problem accepting help and he needed to nip that crap in the bud right away.

"What, with your napkin full of change? No, you can keep that." he retorted in a voice that brook no arguments, "Rhysie you're not spending a penny on yourself or otherwise while you're with me babe. Kay?" his soul-mate glared at him, gave him a look that suggested he was internally debating telling the older man off, _I can take care of myself Jack, thank-you-very-much._ "Fine." his cupcake grumbled defeatedly.

"I guess I'll have the banana split pancakes." Rhys said with an angry pout on his face, "And an iced tea." Jack chuckled fondly, _So cupcakes got a sweet tooth. How fitting._

Jack ended up getting a protein scramble and a black coffee for himself, and it led to the thought that they must have looked like an odd couple.

"Hey, what's with the pout?" Jack drug his knuckle down the side of Rhys' face, an amused grin gracing his own face.

"Are you- are you trying to intimidate me honey?" Rhys shook his head but his pout got deeper, showing the kind of passive-aggressive anger he usually gave people that he thought were pitying him. He crossed his arms over his chest, hugging his own slender frame but unfortunately, Jack took that as him being cold and draped his overcoat over the auburn haired males' form.

Rhys didn't protest that time because Jack was much seeming to be much more stubborn than he was...also he _was_ a little cold but he wasn't going to let Jack know that.

"Oh that's good honey. Because, honestly?" he paused to press an insistent kiss against Rhys' Adams-apple. "I think I've been more intimidated by sneezing kittens." their moment was interrupted with a couple plates and cups being placed on their table by a waitress. Jack gave him kisses on his nose and cheek, adoring him with attention and praise.

"Okay, eat up kitten." he took a forkful of Rhys' pancakes and made a face that said _how do you stomach this_ at the saccharine taste, "When you get done with all of that, I can buy you some new clothes. Nice stuff, and _before you say anything_ , I can afford it. I've got enough cash to keep you more than comfortable."

Rhys hummed softly in agreement. He told himself that Jack was the kind of guy who, if you were with him, would only go bigger and grander if he protested. Then there was the fact that Rhys slowly coming to the understanding that despite himself, he really liked the idea of being fussed over and treated so kindly by such a handsome guy. If he let it, Rhys could get used to that kind of treatment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes: I'm cross posting all of my stuff from Ao3 for reasons…anyways. Enjoy the fic!**

 **Content warnings for this chapter: Violence, Mentions of abuse, attempted sexual assault, canon-typical violence and MURDER.**

* * *

Jack hadn't taken much time to rest before he took Rhys to a nice place to buy him a whole new wardrobe. Rhys had gotten over his own personal obstacles with being pampered and had come to find that he really liked it. He, by that he meant Jack, had ended up spending five hundred dollars on; skinny jeans, cardigans, and among copious other things, fun socks. Jack had ushered him into the caravan to change.

"You clean up good, babe." Jack murmured, as he took in Rhys' form in clothes that actually fit him. He kissed Rhys hard on the lips, gripping at auburn locks and curling his fingers in them. He ended it with a gentle nip on the others low lip, leaving them both with swollen lips.

Rhys looked good, really good and he had to suppress the urge to bend the younger man over the nearest hard surface in the enclosed area of the caravan and just _ruin_ him. He suddenly pulled back and relaxed his grip on his soul-mate with an elongated sigh, ignoring Rhys' disturbingly cute pout.

"What's wrong?" Rhys stuttered, "What did I do? Did I do something wrong?"

"Why...would you think something like that Rhysie?" He replied, "You're goddamn perfect."

"Well, I'm obviously not or you wouldn't..." he trailed off, not wanting to come off as clingy even though his inner voice was telling him, _Well that ship sailed a long time ago._

"I wouldn't...what?" he urged, "Come on sweetheart, tell me what I'm doin' wrong here."

"Why don't you just fuck me already?" he blurted out, slapping his arm over his mouth immediately after. "I just...you haven't done anything other than kiss me and I'm not used to..." he gestured vaguely, "Whatever you're doing to-with me." Rhys was on a babbling rampage, so embarrassed logically that he subconsciously covered his face in his hands. "You're so nice-"

"Oh, trust me pumpkin. I'm not that nice."

"But you're nice to me! I just don't want you to get bored of me and leave me."

Jack made a thoughtful noise that turned into a laugh, he pulled the younger man close and squeezed Rhys' bum flirtatiously "Oh kitten I'm trying so hard not to just fuck you into next week every time you do something cute or bend over and show me that pretty ass, which not that I think about it you might have been doing on purpose" Rhys giggled, and he grinned at his soul-mate. "but..."

"What?"

"Kitten you just don't get it do ya? You're somethin' special and I wanna do this right by you." at Rhys' confused face he added, "Have you ever dated anyone? You know, flowers, chocolate and horse-drawn carriages. All that jazz?"

Jack had never actually cared for someone enough, in a romantic sense, to do all that. He had never been in love with his wife, she was just gullible enough to believe his excuses. He had felt next to nothing when she died while having Angel.

"Not...really?" Jack made a motion for Rhys to explain himself so he went on. "I mean usually if someone liked me my step-father would scare them off. He was...possessive I guess." he shrugged, like it was something normal.

"There was this one guy, though. A couple of years ago, he was older than me...maybe twenty? Anyways, he acted like he liked me and he was definitely more popular around town- everyone in Sanctuary knows each other-and I thought it didn't make sense but..." he giggled nervously, wringing his hands together. His fingers twisted almost painfully in his lap, "I just really wanted someone to be nice to me and he was pretty cute so I..."

"I get it, cupcake." He said, but Rhys wasn't listening. He kept on babbling the story like he couldn't control what went out of his mouth.

"I thought we were going to go bowling. You know, like in the movies?" He smiled sadly at Jack, "Um, that's not what...He threw money on me afterward and called me a whore. I had never been so humiliated in my life."

Jack grit his teeth, realizing that the list of people who were going to die because they hurt Rhys was getting bigger and bigger. It was a little bittersweet, on one hand it really helped with his compulsions, on the other hand he really hated the idea that anyone would have the audacity to treat his cute little soul-mate badly even before Jack had met him.

"What was his name?" if he could get a full name, there was a chance he could get one of his investors, Ms. Hammerlock to get him an address. She was handy like that, and never asked too many questions. Rhys on the other hand, didn't want to talk about everything else that that whole ordeal had brought up and decided to end the conversation.

"I don't remember." he said curtly, "and I would rather not talk about it again? If you would mind?" Jack assented to that with a kiss to Rhys' jaw. "And...you don't have to be like that with me, Jack. I would honestly much rather it if you didn't"

At that Jack chucked darkly, and pulled his lover into another bruising kiss. "Cupcake-look at me, okay?- I _will_ fuck you. There's nothing I want to do more and if you keep that minxy attitude up, it will be pretty soon, but the first time I do this...it's _not_ going to be in this caravan."

* * *

There were few things that infuriated Jack more than someone trying to touch what he viewed as his, so of course this sort of thing had to happen on such a good day. They were finally on their way back to Opportunity but they had decided to make a supply stop. Rhys had ended up wandering off, most likely unintentionally. His soul-mate spaced out a lot, so he ventured that Rhys just went off in his own world and his body moved with him.

"Hey Rhys." he snapped to a vaguely familiar face that had him feeling dread, although he couldn't quite place it.

"Still crazy?" the guy snarked, boxing Rhys in with the expectation for some sadistic fun with younger male. "Or just crippled now?" he eyed Rhys' stump pointedly at which point Rhys cradled it self-consciously. He had never gotten a prosthetic for it, his family never spent money on him if they could help it and if the phantom pains weren't enough people always looked at him like he was a sideshow attraction.

His assailant grabbed him hard forcing him against a concrete wall and it _hurt._ He hadn't been hit in at least six weeks, about as long as he had known Jack, and now he was being manhandled so roughly that unwanted tears sprung from his eyes.

"F-f-f-fuck off, man I-i-i d-d-didn't do anything to you." he struggled fruitlessly in the death-like grip, not liking where this might be going. "Let me go." he pushed at his assailant, struggling more for his own dignity than anything.

"Aw come on Rhys, really? You don't remember _me_? But we had so much fun together." he laughed cruelly, "Well, _I_ did." it suddenly occurred to him who it was and he panicked.

"My boyfriend's right around the corner." he blurted out, hoping it was true enough, Jack always seemed in ear shot of him and that was more of a bonus to him than a negative. As if by providence, his soul-mate came upon the scene looking positively furious. The assailant dropped him like he burned him, looking over at Jack in a cursory manner.

Jack didn't know whoever this guy that loomed over his soul-mate was but, in addition to

the possessive need to destroy anyone who so much as looked at his cupcake wrong, judging by the way the smaller male all but cowered at this guy, he had a feeling he was going to have a good fist to face talk with him.

"Cupcake!" Jack shouted overtly loudly to the younger man, he was instantly at the others side with his fingers intertwined with Rhys' before he looked over at Rhys' assailant, "Whose the trench coat mafia reject?" he snarked, ready to kill this guy with his bare hands if he said one wrong thing.

"What are you his sugar daddy? Guess that makes sense." _Oh you are just begging_ _for me to have my hands wrapped around your insignificant throat_ _._ His inner monologue quipped, for once in agreement with his urges.

"He's just some guy from my past." Rhys interjected, not really in the mood for flagrant displays of dominance this early in the morning. "Can we just go now, please? I'm sorry for wandering off." he looked at Jack pleadingly as if to say, _I know he's an asshole but he's just not worth it._

Jack seemed to listen, as he snaked an arm around Rhys' waist and started to pull away from the scene.

"Yeah cupcake, let's go." they were about to leave when the asshole-in-question decided to open his mouth again.

"Go on _Cupcake._ Earn your keep." Rhys flinched at the undertones in the words.

His soul-mate moved him off to the side and sidled over to Rhys' assailant. Jack let out a high-pitched mock chuckle before he took a swung at the guy, it didn't take him much effort to wrestle the other guy to the floor. He straddled Rhys' assailant, high on adrenaline and blood-lust.

"Hey Rhysie?" he asked, looking at his wide-eyed soul-mate. Jack seemed perfectly calm in that moment, looking at Rhys reassuringly.

"Yes, Jack?" he squeaked, a little concerned with what was happening.

"Honey can you step back a little more? This could get messy." Rhys nodded meekly, figuring that Jack might be capable of more than he first thought.

"What's your name? Dick?" at the garbled reply, he added "Yeeeeaaaah, actually I don't care." he bashed the other mans head into the dirty concrete floor. "here's what's going to happen, **dick.** You're going to apologize to Rhys. And if-" another punch to his jaw, with a resounding smack.

"ONLY IF, I find it satisfactory will I let you go. You-"

 _Smack_.

"Smarmy."

 _Smack!_

"Annoying"

 _Smack!_

"piece of shit-"

 _Smack!_

"rapist."

 _ **SMACK!**_

The final hit made a cracking noise, his nose bashed in, cartilage and blood oozing out of the wound. Jack looked at Dick in revulsion. "You like beating up on defenseless kids? Hmm, is that it? You get your jollies off by hurting someone who can't fight back?" Dick looked pathetic, bruised and bloody and begging for his life. He pulled back his arm, his own knuckles bruised and scraped from all the action. Jack was having the time of his life, there was nothing he enjoyed more than beating the shit out of some asshole who really deserved it.

"Now apologize." Dick was calling out for Rhys to help him but the expression on his face was emotionless, cold. Jack smirked, realizing that Rhys is a little more like him than he had first thought.

"Ah-ah-ah. Rhysie's not gonna get you out of this. _**Apologize**_."

"oh god-I'm sorry Jesus Christ I'm so fucking sorry! Please just oh my god don't kill me." Dick babbled, Rhys watched him in vague interest. He had never been the powerful one before and it felt so good. "Jack?" at Jacks hummed response, he asked "Can we just go, he's-he's not worth the trouble."

Jack nodded, giving Dick a final punch.

"See was that so hard?" he cooed patronizingly, patting Dick's cheek before he moved over to Rhys. Jack knew that he had probably beat Dick to death which wasn't how he usually killed. _Crime of opportunity,_ he reminded himself, _you didn't have your fancy wire and let's be real here. You weren't intending to kill this guy otherwise his windpipe would be broken instead of his nose._

He wasn't going to let his Cupcake know that he had killed someone for him, not yet at least.

"You okay?" Jack used his thumb to catch a thin trail of blood from his soul-mates lower lip. "Listen I'm sorry you had to see that I-" for once Rhys was the one to cut him off, "Oh me? I'm fine, you should see the other guy." he joked, but he was shaking. Jack immediately comforted Rhys, murmuring things like _Kitten it's okay, you're alright._ _You're safe._ _It's okay babe._

"You're not scared of me, are you Rhys?" Not Rhysie. Not kitten. Not cupcake. Just Rhys, and thel ack of some sort of petty endearment worried the younger man.

Rhys shook his head and bit his trembling lower lip hard enough to draw blood as he nuzzled into the older man, "I wanted-I wanted him to die. I h-h-h-hoped that you killed him. d-d-does it make me a bad person?"

Jack shook his head no but Rhys wasn't sure, he felt ambivalent at best, on the one hand this guy really deserved it. On the other hand he didn't want to think that he was capable of that kind of violence.

Jack ushered him in the caravan, realizing he might have to drug Rhys so he wouldn't have to know about how Jack was going to get rid of this guy. _Well, there's an upside here._ He thought morbidly, _There's a lake nearby._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n: Notice as how the chapters go on that my writing becomes more competent lol?**

 **Warnings for: Non-consensual drugging, flashbacks, intoxication and more murdery stuff. Actually every chapter has murdery stuff so jot that down lol.**

* * *

Jack hoped that Rhys either wouldn't remember or wouldn't hold it against him as he let the cocktail of barbiturates and benzodiazepines sift and dissolve into a particularly sweet cup of tea for his Cupcake. Jack chuckled, feeling glad his soul-mate had the sweet-tooth of a child. _Worse maybe,_ he thought, _I have a_ _child_ _who doesn't use as many sugar packets._

Jack set the mug down in front of his soul-mate, sternly instructing him to drink the whole thing, he smiled proudly when Rhys obeyed, no hint of hesitation there. He would like to say that it was just because Rhys was programmed for unquestioning obedience but it wasn't just that, no he _trusted_ Jack and he could tell this kid had not trusted too many people in a long time, with good reason.

 _Ain't that a killer,_ he thought as he clicked his tongue, this whole guilt-and-remorse thing was just out of place for him. Jack sighed, reminding himself that he was doing this because he didn't want Rhys stuck in the thick of his psychopathy. Despite the face he knew about soul-mates own dark side. He had seen the way Rhys had looked at that guy, cold and unsympathetic while Jack punched and kicked him over and over. Still even with that, Rhys had felt terrible after the fact and that made him a much better person than Jack could ever be.

Either way, there wasn't much he could do about it now as Rhys was already getting sleepy and a little high. He moved instinctively towards his soul-mate, curled up close to the older man.

Rhys giggled and ran his hands through Jack's hair. "Soft." he said, "Nice, so nice." he hummed appreciatively, a sleepy smile on his face. Jack chuckled, murmuring "Right back atcha, babe." to his soul-mate.

Rhys was handsy, climbing all over his lap in drugged euphoria. He made a move for Jack's belt, he was immediately stopped by his soul-mate grabbed his wrist. The glow was enunciated by pressure, "You're high, Rhys. We're not doing this right now." he warned in a tone that brook no argument.

"But I-" he pouted, in such a way that almost crumbled the older man's resolve. "You don't like me?"

"I like you just fine babydoll. I'm gonna need you to be a good boy for me and go to sleep. Don't fight it, alright Rhysie?" Rhys nodded but his pout was ever present on his face. Still, he leaned against Jack sleepily.

"mm-hmm, 'll be a good boy Jack." he slurred, seeming to notice his own sluggishness vaguely in between bouts of nodding off.

He manhandled his pouting soul-mate onto the couch-bed, curling him up in blankets and pillows, he waited until he was absolutely sure that his Cupcake was dead asleep before he made his way back to the alley to take care of his body bag shaped problem.

It had been a **good** day and honestly Rhys didn't have a lot of those, he got to go spend the weekend at Vaughn's house with an awful amount of begging and pleading to even be allowed out of the house for anything other than school. They had been playing that new Vault Hunters game, Rhys and Vaughn were as always doing absolutely fuck all with their social lives save for playing video games and the occasional shouting match with a six year old in Korea who was unreasonably good at duels. He had beat them so many times that 'Godammit ming-seo' had become their catchphrase whenever anything went wrong.

"Yeah so like there's this Easter egg where you-"

"Rhys- bro, you're **bleeding.** " Vaughn looked pointedly at his friends legs, to the patch of blood and Rhys froze. "I...dude it's nothing really." he tried, hoping that he wouldn't look bad, or worse **helpless.** He had totally forgotten about the cut he had made on his inner thigh the other night.

It's not like he wanted to kill himself, he always fixed up the wounds with bandages and neosporin. Sometimes the physical pain helped, it grounded him and that made it easier for him to move on with the day.

"You should go to the hospital man," he tried, looking pleadingly at his taller friend. "You could get an infection and get seriously hurt. Or you could die, dude."

Rhys sarcastically mumbled, " **G** **od** **dammit ming-seo**." underneath his breath, he was thankful that Vaughn didn't hear him, or more likely, wasn't paying attention as he was so preoccupied with calling his own, normal, mother up to his room.

Vaughn's mum reminded him of the ones he saw on Hallmark films, she was kind and supportive. Long story short, she acted like a real life bonafied mom. She ended up fussing over him and taking him to the hospital much to his chagrin.

He sat in the bland hospital room, the semi-revealing procedural gown made him feel like a lab rat and he had the sudden urge to run off. There was always the likelihood of getting the kind of doctor who looked at him, looked at all of his injuries and would decide that he was a troublemaker. Those doctors were not in the same league of awful as the ones who looked at his chart, looked at him in sympathy and made an attempt to get him out of his home. Either way, he didn't want to deal with all of that, if he had to take a beating and deal with his step-fathers leering then so be it. But false hope was unspeakably worse than the injuries he occurred over the years.

The doctor who had come to see him was along the second tier, a youngish pretty blond medical resident who looked at him with sympathetic eyes and gave him a kind smile before readdressing her chart. "Hello there, umm...Reeze? Am I saying that right, is it reece?"

"Rhys." he replied curtly, he wasn't bothered as people mispronounced his name more than they got it right the first or seventh time.

"Right sorry! Well, you've visited us about..." she flipped haphazardly through the file, Rhys had to commend her tenacity. Realistically, she was probably over-worked and under-payed. Likely only had about three minutes to talk to him but she was actually making the time to hear his story it made it a little depressing to think that in no time whatsoever she would be just as dead inside as the rest of the doctors in Sanctuary's general hospital.

"wow okay, geez. Forty-six times in the last two years **alone** **!** Before that..." his brain went into full survivor mode. Anytime the authorities were called he was made out to be a sociopathic teenager, the social worker would come followed by immediately swallowing up whatever bullshit Frank peddled to them and then he would end up locked in his room for weeks, probably with bruises and a broken limb. He had been there too many times to be hopeful that this would be any different, so he decided to steer the conversation in a different manner.

"Cancer." He deadpanned finishing the whole sad epithet with a vague gesture. "Lost my good arm," he added with a sour look and a faux apathetic look to his stump.

"Do you get phantom pains often?" the doctor refocused on him, probably sniffing out the basic diversion tactic for what it was. "You should have gotten a prosthetic after your surgery."

"Um, I guess." Rhys felt himself becoming defensive, he hated pity worse than the usual judgmental glares, "Look um- doctor-"

"Karima."

"Right, well. You seem really nice, like you want to save the world by working here and all that unrealistic narcissistic bullshit." he quipped, inwardly cringing at his own biting comments "Thing is, I'm just here because my friends mom freaked out when my cut broke open so I don't know just give me some antibiotics or whatever so I can go home."

Karima frowned but nodded at him curtly. She didn't look any less determined as she stepped out, probably to talk to Vaughn's mother. He rolled his eyes and put his head in his hands, frustratedly tugging on his hair.

"Well, you're uh...free to go I guess. I'll just uh, write you a scrip for cephalexim and you can fill that out...anywhere I guess?"

He had honestly expected after that disastrous hospital visit for Vaughns mother to take him aside and tell him that he couldn't be friends with Rhys anymore as that was the way many of his friendships ended, with forced abandonment. Rhys told himself that It was fine, totally okay. He had been alone before and he could deal with it again.

Rhys frowned and bit his knuckle, thinking that he didn't want to be alone again, having just one person on his side was staving off his own crippling depression.

She hadn't ended up doing that, instead she had practically force-fed him carbs while she made numerous calls to different authorities. All with similar results, as if they were scripted. "I'm sorry ma'am but there's really nothing we can do without sufficient evidence." As if the multiple doctors visits for broken bones and malnutrition weren't sufficient evidence enough.

Translation: who cares, the kid probably deserved it anyway.

"See the thing here is, dick." Jack said to the half-mutilated corpse of the man he had just beaten to death.

"You've caused me problems. A lot. of. Problems." he smirked as a bag pulled out Dicks teeth with a pair of old pliers he always had in his Murder Kit which was a bag filled with all the essentials to successfully get rid of a body; pliers, rope, a buzz-saw, a half-gallon of hydrochloric acid, a lighter, and a fuck load of plastic wrap. "God, I mean. Imagine if Rhys saw that you weren't breathing. I got out of control, which by the way, is not something I do. Anymore."

The area he was in was so desolated that the only witnesses would be the occasional coyote or vulture, so he had plenty of time to make sure there was no evidence. It was good, he could fix this problem relatively quickly and get back on the road home.

Jack chuckled, having a lot of fun mocking the corpse, like he was literally a captive audience to the postmortem torture. If he was a religious man, or a man capable of it, he might have felt the need to repent but as he looked at Dicks corpse all he felt was self-righteous pride.

Murder made him feel more powerful than a vengeful, cruel god. Then there was the fact that there was nothing that ticked him off more than someone trying to touch what was his, and Dick had done more than that by far.

"You know, I could have just dumped you in an open grave. Covered you back up with dirt, no one would'a seen it coming. Easy fix but, you know...I thought that giving you any dignity was just _too good_ for you." he used the lighter to burn off dicks fingerprints, they wouldn't totally burn to a crisp but it would keep the pervert unrecognizable to the under-developed forensic systems.

"Now all we need is you're smarmy face gone." he patted a gloved hand condescending against Dicks swollen cheek, "unfortunately for me I forgot my hammer so I guess," he picked up the half-gallon of hydrochloric acid, waving it in front of the corpse. He made sure to move far enough away to keep out of the fumes before he poured some on Dicks face. "We got this. Stinks like hell but-" Jack clicked his tongue sardonically, "It's incredibly effective."

He rooted through the dead man's pockets, for any way to identify him. _No body, no crime_ extended to people unidentified, if someone without a face or an ID washed up on the beach the chances of them even being identified were slim.

Getting caught was almost impossible, it could happen but he'd be three states over if that ever happened. Jack sighed, cracking an ever persistent crick in his neck. All he had left to do was cover the body again, weigh it down and dump it in the river nearby.

"Dude you know I would love to see 'My grandmothers a were-skag'. Bad horror films are right up my alley, but I can't go I have to see my court-ordered therapist." he snarked, irritation prevalent in his voice."As per my goddamn probation."

"Wait you're on probation?!" Vaughn looked at him, confused and just plain freaked out. Rhys hadn't struck him as a trouble maker. He mainly kept to himself, focused on his studies and bettering himself.

"Yeah." he deadpanned back, he felt blank more than anything. It was a much better alternative to the overstimulating wash of emotions that were constantly flooding his mind. The closer he got to adulthood, the more aggressive Frank got and the more dismissive his mother got.

"You don't commit crimes. You barely even talk to other people" Vaughn looked so confused and he had to suppress the urge to laugh. **God, he** **'s** **naive and just… a good person.** **Why does he even talk to me?,** he thought.

"Vaughn...it's not something that I think you'll understand." **well, you see I tried to fight back one time and now Frank's gonna ruin my life.** His inner voice snarked, he shook his head annoyed with all the competing dialogues going on in his head-space. That wasn't even the full truth, he was more sure that his families intention was to kill him, or have him kill himself. No, he was almost positive Frank did not **just** want to ruin his life, he wanted to end it.

"Then, I don't know dude. Help me understand what happened."

"What happened was I tried to slit my wrist" he popped the 'T' at the end cynically,"because I am just...so tired Vaughn." he grumbled, not even looking his friend in the eye, he was more preoccupied with the barely closed stitching on his wrist.

He opened and closed his fist in an experimental manner watching the opened flesh twitch and pulse with every movement. The wound itself looked like something out of 'My grandmothers' a Were-Skag' it didn't look real, looking at the red and black bruising around his palm and wrist-bones and open healing flesh.

By mathematical statistics he should have bled out, he slit his fucking artery open. Rhys should have died but he seemed to be either very lucky or very unlucky as no matter what he did he just couldn't die for the **life** of him.

"And-and they flipped it around like I'm some kind of fucking dangerous criminal!"

It vaguely occurred to Rhys that he was shouting and he wanted to calm down but he couldn't think rationally enough to fulfill his wishes.

"Th-th-they LIED and said that I threatened- S-s-so I got arrested for- get this-" he sighed using air quotes, "Attempted Self-Murder, I mean...What the flying fuck man?"

Worst off, he had ended up spending three days in a holding cell like some common criminal.

"That's fucked up man." Vaughn said, looking at Rhys sympathetically. "Well, you know..." he gestured vaguely, "you can come over anytime man."

Rhys opened and closed his mouth indeterminately trying to decide whether or not to snap at his only friend but decided that going home and taking a long, scalding shower was a better decision.

His court-ordered therapist was a young no-nonsense type of woman, he figured that she was doing this to finish her schooling. She gave him a cursory glance upwards from her glasses, "Have a seat please, Rhys." she seemed pleasant enough, but he didn't want to like her.

He focused on anything and everything negative he could find, he looked over at her cheap triangular plaque sitting atop her desk. **Felicity R. MSW.**

He looked at all the psychiatric books and vague decorations and just ended up rolling his eyes as he sat down. He swung his legs impatiently as he sat stiffly on an unreasonably comfortable couch. "So, this is just a standard evaluation. It gets pretty invasive, so just hang tight okay?"

he snorted derisively but said, "Yeah, okay." in what he hoped was a polite tone because he just sometimes he just couldn't control what came out of his mouth.

Most of the questions were pretty routine, simple things he had been asked before. Things he could handle, and he had prepared his own self deprecating diatribes for every accusation.

"How would you define your sense of self?"

"Lacking"

"How old were you when your father died?"

"Uh, three I think? I don't remember."

"Would you call yourself depressed?"

He shrugged, tapping his fingers nervously against his thigh."Probably. I mean I did slit my wrist."

"How many times have you attempted suicide?"

"Just the one." he thought briefly about how impulsive it was, he hadn't even thought about it when he did it.

"And what brought that on?"

"I dunno, teenage angst?"

"Okay...have you ever been physically abused?"

"Not according to the sheriffs." she gave him a disbelieving look before returning back to her paperwork.

"Okay...what about verbal abuse?"

"Hasn't everyone?"

He only differed from his stoic pattern of barely civil sarcastic responses, "Have you ever been sexually abused?" he hated that question, the way it caused so much paranoia to spike within him.

"What?" She was about to repeat the question when he snapped, "I mean what kind of fucking question is that?!" he let out a half-choked sob, feeling his oxygen supply dwindling like he was in a vacuum, "He just...I don't-yes I am."

"Wait a second, 'Am'?"

"Yeah, he comes into my room at night."

"Who comes into your room at night, Rhys?"

"Frank, obviously. He comes into my room sometimes, smelling like fucking piss and vodka and he grabs me really hard and um..." he trailed off, curling in on himself to make himself as small as humanly possible. It's not as if he hadn't tried to tell people before, it just never mattered. The more he protested, the worse he would get it and the more often. Eventually he just became compliant to the abuse and counted down the days until he could leave.

"Would you be willing- that is to say, would you want to report this?" he shook his head, he couldn't even finish the sentence out loud when he was by himself. He didn't want to have to sit in a courtroom, risk whatever little relationship with his mother and sense of stability he had, for a minute chance that he might have Frank put away. Keyword being **might.**

"It's only going to cause me problems, if I do. No one will believe me." he felt dead inside at that, "Frank is an-" he put his fingers up in air quotes, adding mocking cadence to his voice, "Upstanding member of the community" Rhys worried his lower lip between his teeth, "And me? I'm a teenager with mental health issues, apparently. And to top it off I'm on probation. Who would you believe?" he looked at her almost desperately, "I don't want him to- I would really like to not have to talk about this. Please."

"I...I'll be right back." she stated, the exasperation in her voice was poignant. He noticed her notes on his intake where left out in the open and available like some kind of Freudian Pandora's box.

Felicity had taken notes on every other thing he said, almost in a compulsive manner and that had irked him.

He evaded the temptation before he gave up, walking over to the open file. His own curiosity would end up killing him from the inside if he didn't see just what thought of him. He looked over the annoyingly concise short-hand, and he took a moment to thank god he had six years of debate club under his belt.

Rhys Shapiro, Male, Sixteen years old, 5'11.

Rhys, who will hereby refereed to as Patient, was admitted for psychiatric evaluation/treatment as per probationary requirement.

Patient exhibits signs of past self-destructive traits with intermittent suicidality.

Signs of chronic numbness, general anxiety and hyper-vigilant behaviors.

Seems to have rampant mistrust of authority figures, responds to normal therapeutic techniques with flippancy.

Definite signs of extreme psychological trauma are present. Sexual abuse admitted to but patient would not be cooperative with authorities or willing to press charges.

Patient exhibits paranoid behaviors and defensiveness whenever familial issues are brought to light.

Initial prognosis: PTSD with Traits of Conduct Disorder. Possible cluster B personality disorder?

Rhys laughed, almost impressed that she managed to get him to talk and waited in agitation for Felicity to come back.

Rhys woke up on a softer surface than he had ever been on to the sound of Jack typing insistently on a laptop next to him. Rhys risked a look at Jack, sitting cross-legged with the computer balanced on his knees. He closed the computer when he noticed his soul-mate waking up. "Hey kitten," Jack hummed to him as he pulled Rhys' legs into his lap, squeezing his hip playfully.

"Hey handsome," Rhys mumbled with a sleepy smile on his face, his voice a little hoarse from disuse. He looked around curiously, noting that they weren't on the road anymore. They appeared to be in one of those fancy sky-high penthouses, he looked around the area and guessed by the haphazard messiness that this was Jacks, and by proxy his, home. Jack being his soul-mate still didn't feel real, good things just didn't happen to him. "Did you carry me in here?"

"Well you do weigh like three pounds so," Rhys pouted but didn't say anything. He took to stretching his back out so that the joints could pop and click in response and tried to get up but found that his own legs were as useful for getting around as piles of jelly so he shrugged and allowed himself to relax against his soul-mate. "Yeah _princess_ , I carried you back here." Jack gave an impromptu chuckle, "You shoulda seen the dirty look the doorman gave me."

"Jeez, I feel like I was in a coma. How long was I out?" Rhys asked in between yawns.

"Bout twenty-four hours." Jack hummed, "I tried to wake you up but you told me to fuck off in your sleep."

"Jesus! Really?" he shot up and looked at Jack disbelievingly. Jack gave a quick nod and Rhys' Face fell "Sorry."

Jack made a dismissive gesture. "Don't be, it was actually really funny," he coughed awkwardly, "But uh, I was going to tell you about all the people you're going to meet but you were conked out all day, and now we're almost there. There's Nisha, she's a little...intense. I told her to be on her best behavior but she doesn't listen to...anyone." Jack had a fond grin on his face, "Ms. Hammerlock, she's good people, partly the reason I'm doing so well now. There's Angel, she's...my daughter-"

"Wait, your daughter?!" Rhys shot up in confusion, he wasn't upset or jealous about Jack having a previous long-term relationship or at least a family of his own, Jack was fifteen years older than him so it was to be expected. Rhys was just shocked as Jack hadn't said anything about his own family in the six weeks they had been on the road together and Jack never brought it up.

"Yup."

"You never told me that you had a daughter...she's not like my age right? I mean you don't look like you could have a kid my age but-" he rambled, "Then again I never asked, and that's pretty terrible. I'm kind of awful at holding conversations so I'm sorry for that. Plus I-"

"First off, it never came up. I don't usually talk about my personal life and we had other shit to deal with, for you, remember?" Rhys nodded, allowing him to continue, "Second, she's four. I have a live-in nanny taking care of her, I'm not always home and..." he trailed off, "Aaaanyways you and my Angel are gonna get along perfect. She's sweet like you." Rhys had to literally bite his tongue so he didn't say _'But I'm not sweet.'_

"Where is she?"

"I had Maya take her to the park so you wouldn't wake up, she's four so ya know, loudness comes with the territory." That was a half-truth, Rhys had been having nightmares and he knew better than to wake his cupcake up, no matter how much he really wanted to. "I told them to come back around dinner, so' we have a few hours to ourselves."

"Oh, is there anyone else?" Rhys had moved so he was curled in a ball again on the bed, holding a garishly colored pillow like a safety net.

"Uh, let's see...Wilhelm and Salvador, they're my security guys," he ventured in an apathetic manner, "A bunch of people who work for me that I hadn't bothered to learn the names of..." Rhys snorted, "Oh yeah, Gaige! I was gonna see if she could custom fit you a cybernetic...limb. Shit."

"Cybernetics?" Rhys looked anxious in a good way, he had never even had the standard, cheap, plastic prosthetics and Cybernetic implants were a revolutionary upgrade to those. It was like going from the wheel straight to self driving cars. "Aren't those...I don't know incredibly expensive?" he ventured with a cursory glance to his soul-mate.

"Yeah, they _would_ be." Jack said in an overtly pleased tone and pointed to himself in an exaggerated gesture of grandiosity and self satisfaction "If you weren't getting them from the guy who owns the technology."

"Oh, so I could wear it all the time, then?" He wanted that, being able to have all his limbs back after his illness, it had been so long since then

"Yeah kiddo," Jack gave him a real genuine smile, clearly proud of his work "It's more of an implant than a prosthetic, so other than routine check ups and maintenance you would never have to take it off! Plus, in the newer line we've started working on there's nerve symbiosis technology. Basically, whenever there's pressure put on it, it sends messages up to your brain. Telling you if it hurts, feels good, blah-blah-blah. Theoretically you should-" Rhys got so excited that he bounded forward while Jack was still speaking, grabbing the front of Jack's sweater. He balled the material in his fist and kissed the older man with fervor. It was the first time, to his knowledge, that he had initiated contact and he was more than pleased when the affection was returned to him.

"-Be able to feel with it." Jack finished when he pulled away from Rhys, breath a little ragged and a satisfied smirk quirking up his lips.


	5. Chapter 5

Angel was none too happy to see that Rhys was going to be living with them now. She had immediately thrown a tantrum and told Jack that she hated him before locking herself in her room. Rhys frowned, immediately understanding what it was.

"Angel get back out here!" Jack shouted, there was frustration in his cadence and facial features as he banged on the door to his daughters room. "If don't come out of your room on the count of five I will-" he's interrupted by a tapping at his shoulder.

"What?" he snapped, regretting it when he saw his soul-mate looking at him with his head cocked to the side. The worst part being that he wasn't even mad at Jack and that just killed the CEO a little bit on the inside.

"Can I talk to her?" he asked softly, he had experience with kids angels age. Rhys believed if he could deal with any part of Jack's life, it was this. "Please?"

"Give it a shot cupcake." he assented, stepping back slightly as the redheaded male leaned on his haunches in front of the door.

Rhys knocked on the door, not startled in the least by the mid-sob "Go away!" she had given him,

"Angel please come out." he coaxed, "We're just gonna talk."

"No! Go away! I hate you- I hate all of you!" he sighed, looking back at Jack in faux exasperation. He smiled patiently, "Why would you hate us, Angel?"

"Because you- you're gonna send me away." she babbled, Rhys heard a faint clattering that he guessed was her throwing something against the door. "You're gonna make me go to school in S'isserlan"

"Now who told you that?"

"Danny Fargo..." she admitted softly and the knowledge caused Rhys to become a little angry if he was being honest with himself, _Stupid Dan_ _ny_ _Fargo_ , he thought with the most grim contempt he could muster against a five year old boy.

"I promise honey, you're not going anywhere."

There was several minutes of silence before Angel finally admitted, "I don' wanna get in twouble."

"Angel- sweetheart, I promise you're not in trouble." He reiterated, the combination of speaking through the door and the group of wary adults watching him made him feel like some sort of hostage negotiator. "We're just going to talk, okay?"

She didn't reply so he decided to double down, "If you come out we'll get ice cream..." He sing-songed to her coaxingly. There was more silence before the lock clicked. The door was opened, revealing the tiny, sniffling, black-haired girl.

"You were really good with her," Angel's nanny, Maya praised. "She usually doesn't like people that she doesn't know that well."

"I used to babysit this thirteen year old who was on house arrest for setting her school's gymnasium on fire." Rhys smiled with a little bit of well deserved pride, "I _think_ I can handle an ordinary kindergartner having a temper tantrum."

She shrugged apathetically, "Just take the compliment, kid."

They ended up going for ice cream together, like a real family. Angel seemed to warm up to him almost immediately after her tantrum. She asked Rhys every question in the world, mainly about how Jack and him met, how did soul-mates work, things along those lines.

If he was being honest with himself, he had exaggerated and romanticized everything that he was able to sugarcoat and left a lot of things, topics he didn't deem appropriate for her to understand.

It was nice, feeling so united with other people.

* * *

 _Rhys looked around curiously and down at himself, there was his school uniform so he must have been back in school. "I must be dreaming..." he mumbled to himself before furrowing his brows. What if he wasn't? What if he was back home and Jack wasn't real? What if he had no soul-mate after all, like Frank said? **What if...**_

" _Hey! Hey, Rhys." Yvette was running after him, she was quick and he felt a great enough depression at the loss of Jack that he stopped in his tracks._

" _Jesus, what are you running from?" he shrugged in kind, giving Yvette a half-smile. "I dunno? The doldrums of society and the inevitability of death." He snarked, she snorted in reply and he grinned. Rhys liked Yvette, she wasn't one of his tormenters but they definitely weren't close._

 _Still, she sat with him at lunch sometimes and occasionally invited him to parties. He usually said no, but that didn't deter her. "I'm uhm...not sure." he wrinkled his nose, "just needed to get out of the house I guess."_

 _Truthfully, he had climbed down the ivy trailing that lined the walls when he had seen the bottle of whiskey that Frank had been nursing. If he could avoid the man drunk, he always did for there was always going to be a "Nighttime Visit" if the man was drunk. It happened on occasion when he was sober and he couldn't avoid that but..._

" _Seems legit," She said, giving a cursory face. He could see the concern in her face whenever they spoke like this and he absolutely hated it. "Anyways I came here to-" there was a feeling of deja vu that was oddly reminiscent of groundhog's day._

" _Invite me out?" he tried, knowing exactly how the conversation would go. "I don't think I can..."_

" _Aw, come on Rhys! You destroyed me and my team in debate today, I mean...gimme a little pity here."_

" _It's nothing against you I just-"_

" _I mean I really thought I would hate you but, I actually want to be your friend." She put her hands together, "please? If not for me, than maybe to show everyone you're not just some pain in the ass over-achiever." he visibly winced, that had been a little on the nose. He spent as much time away from home as he possibly could, that meant doing every extra-curricular plus weekend volunteering and the occasional bout of baby-sitting so he could add the cash to his running away from home fund._

" _...Fine. If it'll make you drop the whole party subject." he said sternly, "For good."_

" _Definitely, just this one time." he had the sinking feeling that he was going to regret giving in as he followed Yvette to her car…_

Rhys woke with an irritability he hadn't had in a while, his sat up and looked around the room to find, happily at that, that he was in Jack's penthouse, his soul-mate was real and his life was making a turn for the best.

"Rhys!" Angel shouted, causing him to flinch at the sheer volume. "You awake, me and daddy made bweak-fast for you!"

"Really?" he asked, brightening up at the large assortments of breakfast foods covering the kitchen table.

"Uh-huh! We din't know what to make you so we made eve'wy thing!" She threw her arms up in abject glee, clearly glad that she helped make Rhys' day so early in it. "Daddy cooked and I helped a lot!"

"You guys didn't need to do that for me..." he placated bashfully, pulling his sweater down in a display of self-consciousness.

"But we wanted to!" Angel piped up, "You make daddy happy and that makes me happy!" she giggled and ran her fingers through her hair. "and you made my hair all pretty last night." Rhys grinned fondly, she was such a cute kid.

"Angel, don't crowd him. He just woke up, 's rude." Jack scolded and he moved over to his soul-mate, wrapping his arms possessively around the others' waist. "but it's true, we wanted to do something special for you babe."

Rhys was not entirely sure how to deal with being pampered even in the simplest of ways so he simply dropped his head and murmured a soft, "Thank you..." as he dropped the subject.

"Mm-hmm, how ya feelin' Rhysie?" giving the younger male a kiss against his temple. "Sleep well?"

"I'm…I had a weird dream?" he murmured as he took a seat, piling his plate with eggs and waffles.

The older man made a thoughtful noise, "You mean like, a nightmare?"

"Nah, I have nightmares all the time this was...weird." he said, cocking his head to the side,"It was more like...the prequel to the nightmares, I guess." Rhys shuddered visibly, "It was...an old memory of mine. The before of the party where I met..." he trailed off, not wanting to say his name as it left a bad taste on his tongue every time it was uttered.

Jack looked at him quizzically, so he filled in with, "You know, that...guy you met who you..." he looked over at Angel in concern. He lowered his voice quickly, "beat up in that alley?"

"Oh yeah, him." Jack smirked, leaning over the counter. "that little shit deserved it."

"Are we doin' anythin' today Daddy?" Angel asked softly, she nervously played with the braids Rhys had done her hair up in last night.

"You're going to school, munchkin." he affirmed, mussing her hair up playfully.

"But-"

"Ah-ah-ah, no buts!" he scolded, "You're going to school today and tomorrow and every other friggin' day until Saturday."

Angel pouted and stomped her feet, "Fine. But I won't like it!" she declared and Jack mumbled "I'm okay with that." to himself.

"Honestly, Angel it would be pretty weird if you did." Rhys agreed in between bits of syrup covered pancakes, "Nobody loves school, well I did but I think I'm sort of a special case because you know..." he trailed off, not wanting to say; _even though I was ostracized by my peers, no one beat me or raped me so I considered it a safe space._ "but you'll get used to going everyday, hon. And I can help you with a lot of stuff."

She gave Rhys a tiny smile and ran to him for a hug. "Thank you, Rhys you're the best." She hummed, she pulled back suddenly remembering herself. "'s Maya taking me?" She asked, sounding a little crestfallen.

"We're taking you." Jack admitted with a glib smile, "I cleared my schedule today."

"Why?" Rhys asked rhetorically, knowing how antsy his partner was to get back to his job. He thought it was funny that the person he was most compatible with was such a workaholic. "I thought you were Mr. Big-shot-CEO and your company needed you to survive, because they're so incompetent that they couldn't tell the difference between a peacekeeper and their own sphincter?"

Jack chuckled, "That does sound like me," he admitted, "but I can take a day, sweetness." he added gruffly, "Plus, there's literally nothing I need to do today...I checked about seventeen times." he kissed Rhys, "and I wanted to have the entire day alone with you." he murmured the last statement out of earshot of his daughter.

"Oh?" Rhys said coyly, looking up at his soul-mates hetero-chromatic eyes. He fidgeted with his hands excitedly, "I guess I can live with that."

* * *

Rhys was undeniably excited at the idea of spending the entire day alone with Jack, doing whatever he wished with his soul-mate.

The older man had agreed to have all of his calls, other than life or death emergencies, directed to his secretary for the entire day and told every person he knew to, "leave him the hell alone."

He _had_ spent weeks alone with Jack in the caravan, but that had been incredibly different. Rhys had spent most of the time there in fear of his soul-mate, almost terrified at the idea of breathing wrong around the man. But now he felt more comfortable around the older man, or at least comfortable enough that he didn't flinch every time Jack spoke to him above a whisper or hugged him from behind when he wasn't paying attention.

Rhys turned over on his side, "So um, what are we doing today?"

"Well, Gaige is coming over today to check you out so we could fit you for your arm."

"Uh, the cybernetic one?" Rhys furrowed his brows together when Jack nodded, "That happened...quickly."

"Well, yeah." Jack chuckled confidently, "It's my company, my designs, my…everything." Jack coughed awkwardly, "Anyway she'll be here in a minute, literally. I'm gonna go check on some stuff but I'll be right back." Rhys nodded in understanding, giving the older man a half-smile.

It didn't take long for someone to come in, a spunky looking teenager with uneven pigtails and her very own cybernetic limb that started at her elbow, "Sup." the girl in question extended her cybernetic limb towards Rhys, "I'm Gaige, guessing that you're Rhys."

"You're Gaige?!" Rhys squeaked, "But you're...my age?!"

"I'm kiiiiiiiind of a robotics prodigy. When I was in ninth grade I created my own security robot." She humbly gloated, "Anywaaaaaays, this evil destroyer of- I mean this girl I went to school with got hurt pretty badly," Gaige paused, mumbling something about the girl deserving it before she continued on brightly, "aaaaaand I almost went to jail for- like EVER, but Jack paid for my defense, got me off pretty much scott-free and offered me an apprenticeship at his company!" she finished her rant off with a winning smile.

"Wow..." was all Rhys could really say to all of that, he ran his hand awkwardly through his hair in a display of anxiousness and awe. "That's...impressive?"

"I know it _sounds_ bad but...CONTEXT."

"Do you work directly with Jack?"

"Nah, I work with Gladstone." Rhys looked at her quizzically so she continued, "Uh, he's like this British guy? He kind of looks like doctor who-"

"Oh, uh...Which doctor?"

"Tenth."

"Oh he's my favorite! Did you see the episode with-" The two were cut off of their nerdy gushing by Jack's booming tenor.

"Hey nerds!" He shouted a little too loudly, causing Rhys to flinch from the noise and Jack in turn to mentally slap himself.

"Hey Cupcake," Jack murmured to his soul-mate, "Watch out for her, she steals from me every time she's over and you're the most precious thing I got right now..." Rhys rolled his eyes at his soul-mate, "I think I'll be fine." He quipped back, "Gaige is actually pretty nice."

"Agh!" Gaige shouted indignantly, "That's only because you pay me child slave wages." she crossed her arms over her chest angrily, "Girls gotta eat."

"Hey you get free room and board," Jack defended himself, "And you know what? Legally I could get away with not paying you." he glibly replied, in a don't-test-me fashion. "You're getting a degree out of this so, technically, I don't owe you fucking shit."

"Wow, man. That's just ice cold." Gaige shook her head emphatically, her own cybernetic shining brightly as she worked with the scraps of metal. She gave Rhys a bright smile, "Your implant's gonna be sick, dude. Jack told me to give you Hyperion colors but I think it looks like something a bee colony threw up all over so I'm thinking more of a monochrome-"

"Ah! No 'm gonna have to stop you right there, pumpkin." Jack interjected, "Rhysie's getting Yellow and black implants." his tone stayed firm, brooking no arguments from the young engineer.

"But that's so-" Gaige started but Rhys cut her off, "I don't mind, I like the colors." he said cheerily.

"You guys are lame," Gaige stated emphatically with her hands on her hips. Jack gave her a pointed look and she threw her hands up, "Whatever. Yellow and black it is!"

"That's good kiddo, but I gotta ask," Jack murmured as he pulled Gaige aside, the teen worried for a moment that she would be fired before Jack continued in an easier tone.

"Can you get it on him today?" He leaned back against a wall, in a display of false casualty. "I've got a surprise for him that involves him having all of his limbs again."

"Like what?"

"Don't worry about it."

Gaige rolled her eyes in an over dramatic fashion, "Yeah, that's totally not weird and creepy sounding. But, yeah. I can get it for him today, I made my arm in about three hours so..."

"You also amputated it yourself." Jack pointed out, amused by how his youngest employees mental instability almost dwarfed his own.

Then there was the fact that he actually really enjoyed Gaige's company, her weirdness amused him endlessly and she was extremely competent at robotics.

"Yeah, and now I can digi-struct a bot with the strength and efficiency of 30 Navy SEALS." She quipped before returning to Rhys.

"So I got all you're measurements down, so i'mma weld all these parts together make you a brand-spanking-new arm. I have to make a port so it connects to your arm and you can take it off whenever-"

"I don't want to take it off," Rhys stated abruptly, "Ever."

Gaige just shrugged, "I still have to make it," she said, looking over the metal framework. "It won't take long."

The whole process of fitting him for the neuron connector was probably what took the longest, Gaige was pathological about making sure it worked perfectly and had zero chance of malfunctioning.

"You like it?" Jack asked as he held up the mechanical limb, Rhys nodded giddily in kind. "Can you feel anything on it, Rhysie?" Jack kissed the mechanical digits teasingly, "Feel that?"

"Sorta? It feels...weird?" Rhys hummed softly, "I mean, it's not bad. It's just-I can't really describe it I guess?"

Jack chuckled, "Makes sense. You can move it around alright?"

"Yeah, actually!" Rhys chirped in kind, beaming at the older male with doe eyes. "I really like it, Jack. Thanks so much."

"Aw, well kitten-"

"Hey! You _should_ be thanking me," Gaige piped up snappily, interrupting Jack with fervor. "I'm the one who did all the work!"

"It's _my_ designs kiddo. If it weren't for me Rhysie wouldn't have that pretty new arm."

"Well, I guess we should just thank George Washington Carver every time we make a PB&J by that logic."

"Yeah, probably. I mean he's dead so we can't but..."

Rhys giggled at their back and forth, grabbing Jacks wrist, smiling happily at the little glow. "Thanks Gaige," He hummed, bouncing on his heels nervously.

"Why is he your soul-mate?" She looked over at Jack in accusation, as if he mocked it up and was tricking Rhys. "He's just so…" she gestured vaguely with her organic hand as she tried to find the right word.

"He's just so...what?" Jack mocked, giving Gaige a look of incredulity.

"Pleasant, I guess that word works. Rhys is pleasant." Gaige readjusted her goggles in a display of false casualty,

"And I'm not?" Jack pressed his hand flush to his chest, "Pumpkin, I'm shocked."

"...I'm neither going to confirm nor deny that on accounts that you sign my paychecks."

Jack broke out into laughter at that, "Alrighty Gaige time for you to go back to gladdy."

"Hey Rhys by the way, if you ever want to-" she was cut off by Jack forcefully pushing her out the door. "Jesus watch it! Hang out with someone you're own age I have the new _Vault Hunters_ game."

"What? Oh, is it good?" Rhys called back.

"It's great! You can customize your own character instead of just class types and-" the last of Gaige's statement was muffled by the door being slammed behind her as Jack tossed her out.

"Wow, Rude." Rhys quipped softly, smoothing his hair down.

"Yeah, well I'm not sorry," Jack gave him a wolfish grin, "we've got plans for tonight kitten and I want all of your attention."

"Really, what are we doing? Where are we going?"

"I was thinking maybe I'd take you bowling."

"Bowling?" he swallowed nervously, unconsciously biting on his thumb.

"Oh shit is that a problem for you? You told me that story and I just thought that you would have wanted to go-"

"No! I mean, I want to go it's just that...um well, that is to say-"

"Spit it out, kitten."

"I...don't know how?"

"You never went as a little kid?"

"Well, I was really sick all the time when I was a kid and even after I got better we didn't have much money…then there was that whole deal with Frank and I wouldn't be allowed to leave the house-"

"Wait, they trapped you in your own home?" Jack snapped, enraged that anyone would treat Rhys like that, let alone his own family.

"Yeah, I dunno they told me I was grounded but I don't think it's the same if I'm _always_ grounded, right?"

Jack bit his tongue, not wanting to scare his soul-mate off. "...Let's just go and have a good time pumpkin, I'll teach ya how to play." Rhys nodded and said okay, scampering off to put some nicer clothes on.

When he was out of earshot Jack mumbled, "I'm gonna fucking kill that guy, no one hurts my Rhysie. First I'm gonna beat him so hard that he can barely move, then I'm gonna cut his dick off and shove it down his stupid throat, I'll keep him alive as long as I can make him suffer for and-"

Jack cuts himself off as he sees Rhys returning back to the room. "Heeeeey! Pumpkin, back so soon?"

"Yeah," Rhys sighed, "I uh, figured that it would be cold so I got my hack-a-thon sweater then I figured that I would need to move around more so I put some more stretchy pants on..." he giggled nervously, messing with the frayed sleeves "but I'm ready now so uhm, when are we going?"

"You're so freaking cute Rhysie." Jack cooed, "We can go now if you want, I cleared out my schedule for you."

Jack moved forward, squeezing the younger males' shoulder possessively as he led Rhys to his car, a brand new black Lamborghini. "So you don't mind?" Rhys asked as he strapped himself in, "Teaching me, I mean."

"Well I dunno Rhysie, I'll have to hold onto you the whole time and be reeeeaaaally close to ya the whole time..." Jack murmured flippantly, "It'll be a struggle but I think I can handle it kitten."

* * *

Rhys was a little surprised at the emptiness of the bowling alley, maybe he shouldn't have been seeing as how Jack had more money than he knew what to do with. Renting out the space wasn't out of character for the other man, even with how short he had known him.

"I figured it would be easier if we had the whole place to ourselves," Jack grinned at Rhys, "We can have all of the gross fatty foods to ourselves kiddo."

"Oooh, over greased nachos with ground beef on them? Yum!" he quipped, making two fists and throwing them upwards in a congratulatory manner as if to say, _And you've just won a neeeew caaaaaaaar!_

Jack chuckled in kind, patting Rhys' ass encouragingly as they moved inside the garishly colored building. Rhys frowned, the inside was even more potent and loud, the greens, reds and yellows decorating the walls, seats and counters gave the cybernetic man an eyesore. "Wow, this place is...loud." he giggled nervously, huddling closer to Jack as they moved towards the front counter.

The boy behind the counter gave the two of them an odd look bordering on disgust but not quite there, it didn't really bother Rhys as the employee was just some weedy teenager whose girlfriend was his own hand.

Jack was a little more irritated, but Rhys supposed that was to be expected. "Got a problem kiddo?" he questioned, looking at the weedy teenager behind the stall with a threatening gaze, "Cause, lemme tell ya I have no problem with wiping the floor with your zit cream stained face."

"What?! No man, I don't have a problem. Don't tell my manager I'm not, like homophobic or anything." The employee squeaked, looking at Jack with abject horror, specifically because Jack looked like the type of guy who followed through with his threats. He looked over at Rhys pleadingly, mouthing "Help me." to the cybernetic male.

"That's good because-" Rhys interrupted Jack by smacking his shoulder, mumbling "Be nice." to the older man just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"Alright fine, we need shoes. Two thirteens, right kitten?" he held up two fingers for emphasis, looking over at the employee with annoyance. He gave them the pairs, and the two walked off with the shoes hand in hand.

"Which aisle do you want?" Jack gestured vaguely around the space, his arms held out widely for the other in a grand gesture.

"You know you didn't have to be all scary with that kid," Rhys said, taking his own stern tone with the older man for once, "He doesn't even want to be here, most likely and looks at everyone like that, or maybe he thought the age difference was weird. Whatever, you know."

"Well aren't you sweet pumpkin," Jack murmured patronizingly, "but the age difference never bothered you before."

"It doesn't," Rhys shrugged as he neurotically laced his bowling shoes, making sure the ends were one hundred percent equal. "I just don't want him to spit in our nachos."

"There's my salty little pretzel." Jack praised, moving over to the bench where Rhys was sitting. Rhys smiled at him genuinely as he fiddled around with his laces some more before finally going "Yes!" Jack gave him an odd look and he ducked his head with a blush forming on his face, traveling down into his neck. "I've got a touch of OCD I think." he made a maybe-maybe not gesture with his organic hand.

"No big deal, kiddo." Jack hummed, he placed his hands on each side of the other mans' hips as they stood up. "You want a demonstration, sweetheart?" Rhys nodded, giving Jack the green light to show Rhys what he should do, "Just knock all the pins down with one of these balls," he held up his own demonstratively, "and roll it by the way, don't throw it you might break the floor or hurt yourself."

"You're kind of a terrible teacher, Jack." Rhys quipped, nudging his hip against Jacks' playfully. "But I think I get it, just...roll one of these comically large balls and try to hit all those pins."

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds silly. This was something _you_ wanted to do, kitten." Jack snarked back, "But, yeah...pretty simple concept Rhysie." Rhys hummed contently in response, he walked over to the conveyor where all the bowling balls rolled out of and picked out what he hoped was the lightest one. "Alrighty, here goes nothin'." he murmured to himself before rolling the ball and managing to hit six of the pins on his first try.

"Wow, kitten. You're a natural."

"Well, I won't forget you when I'm eating greasy food with billionaires." he teased, putting his cybernetic arm on his hip coyly.

Jack responded by wrapping his arms around the younger males waist, pulling him backwards against Jacks chest, "I wouldn't go that far, kiddo." he gruffly murmured back, pulling a stoic face in despite of Rhys' bubbly laughter. "You're too cute for the cutthroat world of professional bowling." Jack pulled the two of them onto one of the faux plush couches. He moved them so Rhys was facing him, straddled on his lap with his legs on each side of him.

"Is professional bowling even a thing?" Rhys cocked his head to the side and Jack shrugged in response. "Probably not," Jack said, "But I'm still never letting you go Pumpkin." Rhys smiled and pressed his head against the others chest.

"Cause I'm yours?" he queried softly, running his fingers against the Hyperion logo of Jacks pullover. Jack smirked in kind, "Definitely." he muttered back.

"Well, are you mine too?"

"Completely, kiddo." he assured, taking the opportunity to swipe his thumb over Rhys' lower lip before Rhys hopped off of his lap to finish up his round. They spent the rest of the time like that, mainly messing around and snacking on carb-laden foods.

* * *

" _I can do this, I can do this, I can do this." Rhys repeated the mantra over and over as he neared his mother. He was going to tell her, every other time he got the courage to tell her about what happened when she was asleep, Frank had been in the vicinity_ _of the two of them. He couldn't look at his mom while Frank was in the room, Frank scared him so much that anytime he was within spitting distance of the man and had the opportunity to avoid him, he bolted._

" _Mum?"_ _he tried, his voice so soft he could barely hear_ _ **himself.**_ _Rhys shifted from foot to foot nervously, she hadn't acknowledged him so he tried again a little louder."I...um wanted to tell you something….about Frank?"_

" _What do you need Rhys?" She said, sounding disinterested in her son in general._ _It wasn't always like this, even after Dad had died. She used to be so warm and kind, if a little wary of letting Rhys anywhere near a Loader-bot._

" _He-he's been um...coming into my room at night and..."_

" _What? What's Frank doing?"_

" _He's been raping me." he blurted out, looking wide eyed and terrified of his own mother._

" _Why do you need to ruin this for me?!" She screamed, flinging a plate at_ _Rhys. The glass connected against his forehead and broke in half, leaving a gash in his head that caused pain so intense that he cried out. "You are so selfish!"_

" _But I-"_

" _No! Stop talking you little liar. I've had enough from you." She snapped as Rhys shrunk even further._

" _I'm not lying..." Rhys stuttered as he hugged himself for comfort. "He does it,_ _I am..._ _not lying mum."_

" _GET OUT!" There wasn't another second before Rhys was moving as fast and as far as his lanky legs could carry him._

Rhys whimpered, hugging his knees to his chest as he woke from his nightmare. He dug his fingers hard Into his shoulders, deep enough to bleed. "No, no, no, no, no." he whispered in between sobs. "I can't- I can't- I can't..." Jack stirred slightly in his sleep, and Rhys froze immediately.

He couldn't wake his soul-mate because of all of his panicking, he refused to cause the older man any more stress because of him.

Rhys frowned as he stood up, making sure to walk on his tip-toes as he carefully made his way to the kitchen. He figured that he would make some hot chocolate and crush an Ambien in it, then maybe he could get some relief. Just as he passed by Angel's room, being extra quiet so he wouldn't wake her, he heard sounds of distress coming from inside.

Rhys knocked on the door, hearing a tiny mumble from inside as he entered. "Angel?" he said softly, taking a seat on the bed next to her, "What happened, hon?" all he received in reply from Angel was stuttering sobs and whimpers. He frowned sympathetically, "Didja have a nightmare?"

Angel nodded so Rhys felt that he had the green-light to continue, "Well, I had a nightmare too.

"What's wrong baby girl?" Jack queried softly, frowning at the distressed noises his daughter made. He looked over at Rhys who was sitting on Angels bed, trying to comfort the young girl. "Pumpkin, what are you doin' here?"

"More like 'what are you doing here?'" Rhys countered cheekily, brushing his bangs from his face.

"I woke up so I decided to check on Angel, she has bad dreams some times so..." Jack made a motion for Rhys to let him know what he was doing up.

"I had a panic attack, so I was gonna make some hot cocoa but then I heard angel-" Rhys was cut off by Jack's sniffling daughter, a few strands of her dark hair sticking to her tear-stained face as she spoke. "I had a nightmare." She supplied in between whimpers.

"you want me to read you a bedtime story?" he coaxed and Angel shook her head, looking at Rhys hopefully.

"Can W'eesy read it for me?" Angel giggled, "He does the voices."

"Your people await, Kitten." Jack smirked as Angel plopped herself on his soul-mates lap, she seemed to have really taken a shine to Rhys. That was good, he would be there for a lot of the times that Jack wasn't able to be so the two of them getting along was perfect. Now, Jack actually had a nice little family to call his own.

"Alright honey _, Series of Unfortunate Events_?" Angel nodded in reply, Rhys opened the book to their last place and began to read, "I am sorry to tell you that this story begins with the Baudelaire orphans traveling along this most displeasing road," He pulled a grave face, "and that from this moment on, the story only gets worse. Of all the people in the world who have miserable lives-and, as I'm sure you know, there are quite a few-the Baudelaire youngsters take the cake," Rhys smirked, putting his finger up in an A-ha motion, "a phrase which here means that more horrible things have happened to them than just about anybody."

About halfway through the first chapter Angel was fast asleep, curled up on his lap. "She's so cute." he mouthed to Jack as the older man picked her up and lay her back on her bed. He smirked in kind when Rhys moved forward and leaned against him, looking up at the older man in adoration.

"You know, I think she likes you more than me cupcake." Jack murmured to his partner sarcastically, giving the younger mans' shoulder a playful squeeze. "Weird, cause she's only known you for a week or two."

"I guess I'm just good with kids," Rhys said with a non-committal shrug, "They don't lie…I guess I like that."

Jack hummed in reply, practically carrying the other back to their room. "Now, were gonna go back to bed and you're gonna tell me everything." Jack smirked authoritatively, "sound good babe?"

Rhys pouted, a little afraid of telling Jack about all of his nightmares. He crossed his arms and curled over on his side in a little ball, "I'm not sure..."

"C'mon kitten, have I ever done _you_ any wrong?" _emphasis on the you_ , Jack thought with a little bit of amusement,

"No, but… I don't want you to judge me."

"For...what?"

"Well, um...Frank, my step-father used-to-rape-me-sometimes-when-he-was-drunk." Jack was silent for a moment, so Rhys rambled further, "See? Now you're grossed out by me,"

"Rhys-"

"and you hate me now,"

"Rhys."

"but I totally understand-"

"Rhys! Kitten, babe, light of my fucking life all I want to say is that I'm gonna meet this fucking dick and have a real face-to-fist with him."

To his own surprise, Rhys cocked his head to the side with a little secret smile on his face, "You have no idea how much I'd love that, Jack."


	6. Chapter 6

There was an insistent knocking at the door, "I'll get it!" Rhys piped up, bounding towards the door. "If it's Nisha call me over," Jack called, "Haven't seen her in a few days." he murmured the last part under his breath. "She usually doesn't knock though so it's probably not-"

And it was, because as Rhys was about to open the door a dark skinned woman who reminded him of a cowgirl burst through, pushing past him to the threshold of Jacks- no, theirpenthouse. He internally preened at the thought of Jack sharing so much with him.

"Hey, Jackie!" She shouted, making her presence known throughout the space with much entitlement.

"I'll just...go um...do something else." Rhys mumbled, moving away before Jack called him back.

"Kitten, come on over here. You're always welcome with me." Jack reassured, "Nisha this is Rhys, Rhysie this is Nisha. Nish is my best friend and Rhys is my...soul-mate I guess." he shook his head in a disbelieving fashion, the idea of having a soul-mate was still a little new to him.

"You guess?" Rhys quipped, cocking his head to the side. Jack didn't get a chance to answer, though because Nisha was already on the attack with Rhys.

"Holy shit," Nisha exclaimed as she grabbed Rhys' face, "Jackie is this _really_ your soul-mate?"

"Yeah," Jack agreed, looking incredibly proud of both Rhys and himself. "Sweet little thing, isn't he?"

"He's cute!" She praised, giving Rhys a very clear once over. The amber haired male frowned at the idea that he was stuck between two intense people with absolutely no sense of boundaries, "Holy shit, he's like a little doll." She grabbed Rhys' face, turning it from side-to-side as she looked him over.

"Super pretty too!" Rhys balked at that, Jack had been the only person that he had ever met who had call him, 'pretty' so it was pretty surprising that Nisha seemed to have the same sentiment. "You should get him to model cybernetics, he could be like the new Hyperion poster boy."

"Ease off, Nish." Jack warned teasingly, "He's all mine." coming over to grab Rhys from behind and pull the younger male into his lap.

"Fuck off, Jackie. He's real sweet, I'm sure, but you know that sweet isn't my type." Nisha rolled her eyes at Jack, "My types more...handsome." she looked at the Hyperion CEO knowingly.

"Nisha how are you doing at you're job doing uh… I wanna say private investigation?" Jack coughed awkwardly after the fact, not really knowing how to breach the subject with his cute soul-mate about Nisha.

"Unfortunately," Nisha hummed with a vague expression of disdain for her current work place. "I went from catching serial killers and rapists to taking pictures of cheating husbands..."

Rhys looked confused so Jack elaborated, "Nish used to be a cop, before she had a-" Jack cut himself off at the look of murder Nisha threw at him, "She had an accident." but she didn't miss the- entirely unnecessarily if you asked her- judgey look Jack shot at her.

"Oh sure, you accidentally shoot one blind guy crossing the street and they end up stuck in stuck in a wheelchair and _suddenly_ your a freaking loose cannon." She put her hands up in surrender mockingly, grim contempt stapled across her face. "Bunch'a fascists."

"Is the blind guy okay?" Rhys knitted his brows together with sympathy for someone he didn't know and probably never would.

"Baha? Yeah, he's alright." Nisha assured, "Paraplegic but...alright. He's flush with cash now so who's really the victim here?"

"Um...you?" Rhys tried with a shrug but he smiled anyway because Nisha was kind of charming in a strange way, rough around the edges definitely, but he's sure that Jack wouldn't let her push him around.

"That's right, kiddo." She smacked Rhys on the shoulder a little hard and he jumped but he would have flinched no matter how harsh the hit had been. "Kinda jumpy, huh." she remarked with an indiscernible look to Jack. "Didn't think cute and neurotic was really your thing, Jackie."

"Nish-" Jack started but he was cut off by Rhys saying, "What does she mean by that?"

"Oh, yeah right. How'd you introduce me? As your best friend?" Nisha rolled her eyes, "That's not a good way to start a relationship, babe."

"Oh, I see." Rhys didn't realize that he had said that aloud, he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about being so chummy with her. Nisha was so pretty, and intimidating. She seemed more like Jacks speed and if he was honest with himself, as he so rarely was, he was a little jealous of her.

"Aaaaanyways, I gotta go and do my job."

"Have fun catching cheaters!" Jack snarked, his hold on Rhys' tightened a little. Almost as if he was afraid of the younger male running off.

"Whatever asshole, see ya!" Nisha snapped as she left Jack's penthouse.

The two of them were relatively silent for several minutes before Rhys broke the silence. "So, you and Nisha." He hummed, his arms crossed over his chest as he gave Jack an indiscernible look. The effect wasn't as poignant as maybe it should have been because of Rhys' position on Jacks lap, he frowned, entirely sure that he would be at least slightly more intimidating if he didn't weigh one hundred pounds …on a good week.

"Christ, you're not jealous of her are you?" Jack teased, wrapping a protective arm around the others waist.

Rhys pouted in kind, "No...not especially I mean. If you weren't my soul-mate, maybe but..." He lied and grabbed Jack's hand, reveling in the little glow it gave when they touched. "Kinda holds over any insecurities I might have."

Jack chuckled at that, giving a soft nod as if to say, " _Yeah okay, fair point."_ with his body language.

* * *

Jack was getting antsy, the need to destroy someones very existence was sprung back in full force for the first time since he had met Rhys. It wouldn't have been so bad if the urge had not come on so quickly, otherwise he would be able to put some finesse into his lies instead of trying to figure out the easiest lie like some kind of murder junkie.

But things rarely worked out exactly in his favor, so there he was, concocting some bull shit story to tell his soul mate because the alternative was the whole "I'm a serial killer" blurb and he doubted that he would wish for Rhys to have to deal with that extra bit of baggage just yet.

"Yeah, I gotta go to Jakobs' headquarters for a few weeks." Jack said, as if he that was the worst in the world, "Bastards don't want to come to any sort of agreement without a face to face." that wasn't exactly a lie – Jakobs had been difficult to work with than any of the other companies that Hyperion either competed with or allied themselves with, it was so bad that Hyperion had started a viral campaign with the slogan, "Hell is only for pedophiles and people who buy Jakobs' munitions." which resulted in a slander case that Hyperion had won on the basis of freedom of religion.

"Are you sure that you have to go _today_?" Rhys pouted at him after hearing his story, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child. "It's just so sudden."

"It's really important Cupcake." Jack assured, "It came up all of a sudden, took me by surprise too believe me."

"Oh...and you're sure I can't go with you?" Rhys looked at him in that hopeful way that just killed the older man, at this point he was almost sure that it was an act of witchcraft that he was barely strong enough to resist.

"'Fraid not sweetheart," Jack assented, "but it's not like it would be something you would be interested in going to anyways, it'll just be me and a bunch of homophobic hicks in Alabama."

"Oh. Sure, that's alright I guess." Rhys said, polite in a way that had been conditioned into him with years of regular beatings and abuse. "Be safe, okay?"

"I'll be fine." he cooed back, "but I need you to take care of Angel for me, cause your so good with her. She doesn't even trust Maya that much." Jack fished out of his pocket, pulling out a black card and handed it to the amber haired man with a grin, "Aaaand I got you a little something for when I'm gone."

"A credit card?" Rhys gave him an odd look, "I'm not sure if…."

"Baby, you deserve to be spoiled." Jack replied with all the authority and dominance he had, which was a pretty wealthy reserve, "An' I'll be gone for a bit so you need some cash."

"I..." Rhys looked at him with a bit of indignance before it melted into a shy little smile, "Thank you Jack, I…you're so good to me." he said softly and Jack hoped that Rhys found out soon enough, because with the way Rhys grinned at him, completely and utterly trusting of him made him feel worse than any of his victims ever could have.

* * *

 _He shot up in his old bed, the one in the attic that he had to sleep in when he was "grounded", it wasn't fair really- not at all, Frank said that he lied to the police but he was sure that the nice lady that he spoke to was not a police office and he certainly didn't **lie**. _

_Rhys had never told a lie in his life but now all he wished to do was just tell that nice lady with the pretty skirt that Frank was very nice to him and he never yelled instead of telling her everything that happened._

 _So they had taken all of his things away and locked him up in the attic room, he was only allowed out twice a day to relieve himself and shower- he wasn't even allowed to come down for meals! His mother would just come up with a tray and come back ten minutes after to collect it._

 _He had been stuck in the attic for three day by his count- he would draw a line with his fingernail in the old wood floor every time the sun set- when Frank came in._

 _Rhys remembered trying to call him dad-because that's what you did in the movies when someone married your mom- and getting slapped across the face for it, so he just called him Frank or sir in public._

" _Why did you lie to the cops, Rhys?"_

" _But… I din't lie… I don't- who are the cops?" Rhys had looked at his stepfather in confusion as he had heard the word before, on TV and movies, but the woman he talked to was most definitely not a police officer...he was sure of it!_

" _You lied to that woman and told her that we hit you."_

" _But you do hit me..." he said, voice tiny and cautious- wary of how he was being looked at by Frank, the exact same way that he looked at Rhys when he got dizzy and angry._

" _You ungrateful little shit!" Frank snapped, using all the words that he would get slapped for using. He didn't understand why he was so mad, Rhys had really been trying to be a good kid. "We feed and clothe your worthless ass and this is how you repay us?"_

" _B-b-but I didn't do anythin' I pro-promise..." He sobbed softly as he pleaded with his stepfather, not for the first time terrified for his life "Please lemme go I'll be good from now on..."_

" _You can just stay up here for the rest of your summer vacation and we'll just tell her you ran away because you're a bad kid." Frank seemed to be talking to himself more than anything._

" _No please! Please don't leave me in here I'm sorry, I'm so sorry please let me out" he broke down truly then, sobs wracking his frame as he tried futilely to scratch and pry the door that enclosed his prison, "please..."_

Rhys tossed and turned from the nightmare, he must have been Angels' age when that happened. He blamed Jack for the recurrent dream, he was not used to sleeping without the comforting weight that Jack provided against him. His nightmares and flash backs had started dissipating after so much exposure to affection and adoration and even though it had been only a day or two since Jack had left, he was already going through withdrawals.

He sighed and sat up, curling a small throw blanket around his frame so he was a little warmer when he strolled into Jack's ridiculously opulent kitchen. He decided to make a lot of sweets, stress cooking was something him and Jack had in common but he was more of a stress cake and cookie maker instead of general baking and cooking.

As he stepped in he noticed Angel sitting there looking discordantly at the table, as if it had affronted her personally. "Hey Angel," he murmured to the girl sitting at the kitchen table as she nervously drummed her fingers against hard wood and granite "Can't sleep either?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm gonna make some brownies and hot chocolate" Rhys said as he got out the ingredients, "Do you want to help me?"

"Tha'sa lotta chocolate, Rhys." he laughed at how much of an adult Angel sounded like in that moment.

"It helps when I can't sleep." he explained easily, "Dunno why, but it always makes me want to take a nap after I have chocolate."

"Oh." She said dumbly, "Yeah, that sounds fun!" He smiled genuinely at her and started getting everything ready for the brownies. He set out the cocoa, eggs, milk, sugar and measured them in succession.

"We'll start the brownies first and then the cocoa, kay?" he handed her a bowl with a whisk, "Mix everything but the sugar first." Angel hummed in response and Rhys could tell that she was already getting sleepy from the basic busywork.

Halfway through the baking, Angel had fallen asleep and he decided to call Jack. Maybe ask him what he really needed to leave town for. The phone rang almost to the voice mail before Jack picked up with a _"_ _What's up?"_ Jacks tone was easy and relaxed, he had been more on edge lately so the younger male was over-joyed that he felt better.

"Hey," Rhys hummed, the phone held between his shoulder and his ear. " 's this a bad time?"

" _Nah, kitten I've always got time for-"_ a sound of a crash broke out and Rhys' eyes widened in shock. 

"Are you okay?!" Rhys shouted, worried about whatever may have hurt his soul-mate in any way. Jack was overprotective and territorial as all hell that was for sure and Rhys was right on his level with that even though he just didn't mention it so much.

Like what happened with Nisha, it bothered him but he knew it was irrational so he pretended that nothing was wrong.

" _Shit- ha, yeah…just_ _kicked some garbage_ _. Don't worry about it, kay cupcake?"_ Jack assured easily, his voice doing wonders to calm Rhys down from his semi-panic attack. _"_ _How's angel doing?"_

"She's good, sleeping" He hummed before nervously adding on,"Okay, um- this is gonna sound stupid but… I just wanted to hear your voice?"

" _Really cupcake? Aw, that's cute. You're adorable, you know that right?"_

"I dunno about that but- thanks Jack, you're really great..." he bit his lip, "I just- I know it's only been like two days but I just missed you, you make me feel so safe."

" _I'll be back before you know it, and we'll have some special spoil-Rhysie-time."_ Jack laughed, gruff on the other line, _"Sound good?"_

"Yeah!" Rhys practically squealed when Jack murmured, _"I love you cupcake"_ like an afterthought.

he was so enamored with Jack that he didn't even question what Jack left town for in the first place, like he had meant to. Especially when Jack told him that he loved him, like it was no big deal.

* * *

Jack had expected a call from Rhys, but not while he was right in the middle of a kill. He needed this, he hadn't watched the light go out of someones eyes since him and Rhys had been on the road and that had been a while, at least six months.

Rhys didn't know what he was capable of, which wasn't entirely new but the way he looked at Jack- Rhys looked at him like he was the most amazing person in the world, as if Jack wasn't capable of doing any wrong. The concept was almost laughable, so ludicrous because he wasn't an entirely pleasant person to be around with most people- but Rhys just made him melt.

He melted so much that, he took a call while he had a runaway teenager tied up in his caravan. He liked the vehicle, it was a nice kill space and after he had changed the paint and swapped the license plates, it was a nice anonymous get-around.

Anyway, the girl he picked up was hitchhiking- just like Rhys had, and on that same note so many of his other victims. He guessed she was around fifteen, with blond hair and green eyes- pretty in a simple kind of way. It was almost sad that she wouldn't live to here sixteenth birthday, but she shouldn't have taken rides from an admittedly charming stranger then.

He made sure the girl was securely bound to the singular leg of the dead bolted table in front of a long seat before he answered the phone. "What's up?" Jack said, as if he had nothing else to do but speak to Rhys.

" _Hey,"_ Rhys hummed on the other line hesitantly. _"'s this a bad time?"_

"Nah, kitten I've always got time for-" he froze when his victim started thrashing, he put the phone on mute before wrenching the girl up by her throat. "If you don't shut the fuck up this is going to last much longer than it usually does. Trust me, kiddo; I'll break all of your bones and skin you alive if you don't be a good little girl and be quiet." he waited for the girl to no vigorously, defeat present in her face.

"Are you okay?!" Rhys shouted with anxiety.

"Shit- ha, yeah…just tripped over some _garbage_. Don't worry about it, kay cupcake?" Jack assured easily, all the while holding tight onto the girls throat. "How's Angel?"

" _She's good, sleeping." Rhys hummed, before adding."Okay, um- this is gonna sound stupid but… I just wanted to hear your voice?"_ he could practically hear Rhys biting his lip and running his organic hand through his hair.

"Really cupcake? Aw, that's cute. You're adorable, you know that right?" Jack grinned, his hold on the girl tightening and loosening experimentally.

" _I dunno about that but- thanks Jack, you're really great..."_ he bit his lip, _"I just- I know it's only been like two days but I just missed you, you make me feel so safe."_ okay, that was _really_ cute. Maybe he just into needy and clingy, but he was okay with that if needy and clingy meant someone gorgeous and sweet like Rhys cuddled up in his lap whenever he was given the chance.

"I'll be back before you know it, and we'll have some special spoil-Rhysie-time." Jack laughed, a mixture of amusement and adoration present in his voice. "Sound good?"

"Yeah!" Rhys chirped, and Jack smirked internally, uttering an "I love you, cupcake." before hanging up.

He looked over the girl, angry tears in her eyes threatening to fall over onto her cheeks. "Now, pumpkin cryings' not gonna make me stop." he leaned in to whisper mirthfully in her ear, "in fact it only makes this a little- no a lot more fun."

He didn't take much time with her, just snapped her neck quick and easy like.

* * *

Hanging out with Gaige had become his new normal, she came over a lot- in addition to checking the autonomy and joints of his cybernetics, or giving Jack attitude filled R&D reports- to talk to Rhys about robotics, play the new edition of Bunkers and Badasses, binge watch some vintage sci-fi TV show, or just game for a while.

She was pushy, practically forcing a friendship onto him- it was really the best way to make friends with him, he was still pretty messed up and wary of most everyone that wasn't Jack or Angel.

And he liked being her friend, it was just nice to have someone to geek out with and if he accidentally over shared, she didn't flinch or make fun of him. Just gave him some simple validation like, "That's fucked up dude, no one should do that to their kid."

Gaige had ambitiously brought over the new Vault Hunters game, deciding that she and Rhys could hang out until Angel got back from school. Secretly, the prodigy absolutely adored Rhys and Angels' dynamic. The young girl was absolutely enthralled with having a parent home and Rhys adored nurturing Angel and helping take care of her in any way possible whether it be with homework, bedtime stories or even just attending PTA meetings.

It was so _cute._

"Dude I'm jacking the summoner character," Gaige said, "'S my game, so..."

"Fiiiiine, I'll just take the siren." he groaned before mumbling, "I always have to take the support characters."

"That's cause you're so _sweeeet~_ " Gaige schmoozed back, "You heal us with your kindness and loooooooove!"

"Whatever. You suck." he snarked back and Gaige just laughed evilly in kind.

After the most gruesome raid they had ever done together the two of them ended up taking a snack break of the most unhealthy foods that Jack's kitchen had to offer, mainly ice cream sandwiches and Mountain Dew.

"So," Gaige leaned in conspiratorially, "Have you and Jack..." She wriggled her eyebrows, "Ya know, ehhhh?"

"Are you trying to ask if we had sex yet?" Rhys tried and at his friends nod, "Not yet, I think that he's worried about breaking me."

"Yeah, I get that." She replied, "You know with all the...abuse and stuff."

"I guess," he shrugged, "but… I don't know. I think I'm just gonna jump him when he gets back." Rhys quipped, "I actually want to- I mean, look at Jack he's so..." he broke off into nervous giggles. "He's the best."

Gaige hummed noncommittally, "Anyways, didja hear about that body that turned up by Dahl river?"

"A dead body?" he asked, "Ew..." he gestured at all the food, hoping she got the point- she did, she just didn't care- and Gaige pressed on, "Well, kind of...dude was all chopped up and shit." she pulled a face, "I spent the week with my family, and my dad always watches the news- cause he's old as shit and..." she trailed off in her rambling, "Dude not fair, you eat all the ice cream!"

"And this is my house. Your point?" Rhys quipped in return, "So you were saying?"

"Ugh, fine so basically the cops think its a mafia hit or somethin' but no one really knows who he is so..." she clicked her tongue, "I don't think anyone will ever find out who did it, I mean dudes face was all...destroyed."

"Jesus." He said with a little mortification, "Just…wow."

"Right?!"

"He probably deserved it, at least a little. Nobody gets murdered for being too pleasant and nice."

"What about like, those teenagers who get kidnapped and wake up in freaky sex dungeons?" she tried, "Or old ladies?"

"That's...not the same." Rhys shrugged, "I dunno but I think if you bash someones face in then it's...personal?"

"Yeah, I guess." Gaige turned to Rhys, a wicked grin on her face. "You ever think about killing someone?"

"Have you?" he countered, not wanting to lose his newest and current only friend by coming off as too weird.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours!" She practically sang with overzealous tenor. Rhys snorted at that, nodding his assent.

"Mine was Frank." he said simply, "I mean...for obvious reasons."

"Mm, that makes sense. I doubt anyone would be too heart broken if the abusive child rapist got his dick chopped off." She teased, "Mine was..." She pulled the most disgusted and appalled face he had ever seen on her, "Marcie Holloway that...that- AGH! I hate her!"

"Didn't she end up in a coma?" Rhys quirked an eyebrow at her, watching the other bristle at the implication. "That's like...really harsh already."

"She deserved worse," Gaige snapped, "She tried to ruin my life!" She argued, "Dude, third place." She said as if that just settled the entire matter.

"You're evil." He quipped, "Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"Yup!" She chirped, a shit eating grin plastered over her face. "I'm hungry, you hungry?"

"I can make something if you-"

"We should get pizza~!"

"I don't want to spend Jack's money like that..." even though Jack gave him a credit card with a five thousand dollar monthly allowance and made it more than clear that he was more than pleased with spoiling Rhys- reprogramming him as Jack would call it.

"Rhys- it's pizza, and I doubt he would care. Jack's totally whipped for you, I bet he'd buy you your own pizzeria if you asked."

"I wouldn't do that."

"Yeah, I know- but you _could."_ After a bunch of cloying and Claptrap level obnoxiousness- Gaige's patent pending way to manipulate, call it would you would but it was incredibly effective- Rhys ended up agreeing to buy the pizza, if only to get Gaige to stop teasing him about how she had turned her scary boss into a puppy dog.

* * *

As with all the devastating secrets in the world, Rhys discovered Jacks' on accident. He had been cleaning up the entire penthouse and when he came onto Jacks' study – somewhere he was never supposed to go in but he was feeling compulsive about it and he couldn't just _not_ follow that urge.

He had barely even opened the closet and a bag fell out- Rhys made a small noise when it clattered to the floor, barely open when all the contents fell onto the floor. The bag contained a few highly suspicious things; wire, formaldehyde, rope, and a bone saw.

"Okay that could mean anything right?" Rhys said to himself, narrating out loud if only to keep his sanity intact. "He could be into...hunting? I don't know."

Then he saw a book, cursing his internal nosiness when he flipped it open – revealing about sixty IDs meticulously arrayed in the flipbook.

"Nope. Not hunting, that's Colin." He shrieked to himself, "That's Colins' ID…he keeps their IDs."

To be fair to his soul mate, he realized, Jack was at least smart about his urges. He didn't know any of the people he killed and generally got rid of their entire bodies. _So_ _that's_ _smart_ , Rhys thought, _he probably won't get caught anytime soon._

Then there was Angel, Rhys groaned at the thought of her being forced into the foster care system because he doubted that he would be allowed to take care of her with his age and lack of employment. That was reason enough for him not to say anything about it alone.

Still, Rhys decided that he needed to confront Jack on it when he got back- for now though, he decided to focus on Angel

He frowned softly, knowing that even if he wanted to- he doubted if he actually could leave Jack. He was already so dependent on the man, physically, emotionally and financially.

Rhys worried that because Jack was his soul mate that meant that he was a killer too- just like the older man. The only thing problem was that he had no idea how to bring up the subject.

How do you accuse someone of murder without getting murdered yourself?


	7. Chapter 7

It probably spoke something about Rhys' psyche that instead of pulling away from Jack, or better yet running the hell away from him and never looking back, the younger man seemed to cling ever tighter to his older and- apparently- dangerous, soul mate.

Every so often since he found out, he thinks he might have some mild form of Stockholm Syndrome because the thought of not being with Jack was far more damning than the idea that his soul mate was a killer.

A part of him wanted to pull away from the older man when Jack hoisted him up onto his lap and situated the leggy man until he was comfortable straddling him but he couldn't bring himself to it. However, all Rhys could think to do was tuck his chin against the older mans' shoulder.

"I should bring you to work with me," Jack murmured as he adored Rhys' skin with kisses and gentle drags of his teeth. "Show you off like the pretty trophy you are."

Rhys scoffed, blushing despite his own pride. "That's horrible, Jack." he stated in his own fluster.

"Horrible?" Jack laughed shortly, the vibrations tickling Rhys throat. "Kiddo, you really are just the freaking cutest if you think that's the worst I could do."

"That's not what I mean." The younger man whined in protest and pouted.

"Either way," Jack assented, "You're still the prettiest little thing I've had curled up in my lap in a long fucking time."

Rhys ducked his head, "I..." Rhys trailed off not knowing what exactly he should say, feeling pleased by the praise but somehow he had the feeling in the back of his mind that he shouldn't enjoy it so much anymore, " 'm not a trophy."

"Y'know I was just joking at first." The older man hummed conspiratorially, "But now I really want you sitting on my lap while I work." he chuckled, "Maybe you'll get to see the idiots that I have to deal with all day."

"Wouldn't I just get in the way?" Rhys questioned him seriously, after all it wasn't like he had a lot of work experience and he had never been able to even graduate high school before he was thrown out of his family home like a piece of garbage.

 _Because he was too old,_ Rhys recalled with a shaky shudder but brushed the thoughts off – something he had gotten better and better at every day he was allowed the opportunity to be somewhere that he was healthy and even somewhat happy.

' _And that's a big part of it'_ He thought, ' _You're happy with Jack. You love him and you adore Angel so you would be willing to selectively forget the fact that he hunts people.'_

Rhys scrunched his face up in displeasure and Jack looked at the younger man in concern, "Kitten?" He asked, "Somethin' the matter?"

"No, I'm fine." he answered hazily.

"Really, cause you did that whole thing where you get trapped in your head again," Jack retorted suspiciously, "Something I said?"

"I'd like to go with you," Rhys said, if only to distract Jack from his baggage. He couldn't stand bothering the older man anymore than he already had, "If you still want me, that is." he added.

Jack didn't seem convinced but he decided not to press the issue. He knew that Rhys had his demons and forcing his soul mate to confront them might just break him.

* * *

Despite all of Rhys' protestations, he began to realize that he might have been looked at like a trophy to all of Jacks' employees. It occurred to him after that first epiphany that he didn't really care much for the opinion of Jacks' employees.

Except for Gaige, she was cool but it wasn't like she hadn't been sitting there on the side lines rooting for Rhys and his happiness from the moment that the two of them became friendly with one another. In any case, he wasn't actually going to be able to spend any time with his engineer friend and he had to watch the onslaught of workers trying to meet with Jack. Each one got smarmier and smarmier as the day went on.

Then there was Meg, Jacks PA- she seemed nice enough although he hadn't much chance to get to know her because she had practically begged him to cover for her because of a family emergency and Rhys ended up agreeing to do it even though he had no idea what in the world he was even suppose to do.

Rhys was cut from his thoughts and reveries by the sound of someone obnoxiously clearing their throat to get his attention and when he locked eyes with the man he suddenly had a bad taste in his mouth from the mans' gaze but he ignored his own intuition and swallowed down the negative feeling, "How can I help you?" he asked, trying desperately to come off as polite and not at all uncomfortable.

"I'm here for a meeting with the CEO."

"Um...okay." Rhys replied with unexplained unease. "Can I get your name?"

"Hugo Vasquez." He said it the same way that one would say they were the queen of England – he sounded so utterly full of himself that Rhys had to stifle a giggle at how ridiculous the man seemed.

Instead, Rhys bit his lip and politely nodded, "Well Hugo-"

"It's Vasquez."

"...Right." Rhys answered warily, "I'll...go get Jack."

"You mean Handsome Jack?" The man inferred, speaking in a pretentious manner that bothered Rhys in ways he wasn't quite sure he understood.

"Sure." Rhys assented as he supposed that the nick name made a lot of sense to him, Jack was an incredibly handsome man. Then he added in curiosity, "What are you meeting Jack for, anyway?"

Rhys vaguely noticed that Vasquez puffed out his chest as he spoke, "I've been proposing a new department budget increase." he talked down to Rhys a little as he talked and it definitely irked him and he narrowed his eyes at the man, "Not that it's something that you'd understand."

"Oh." Rhys stated, "I'm not sure that's something he would be interested in hearing about." Even if the idea was effective there was no doubt that it would be plain and simple expensive and he wasn't entirely sure that the risk would be worth it as far as he was able to see.

"You..." Vasquez sneered, as if he was offended that Rhys thought he had the right to weigh in on what the CEO might be interested in, "what exactly is Handsome Jack to you?"

Rhys paused in puzzlement, unsure as to how he should phrase it. Neither of them had really defined anything in words or labels, the both of them had just molded together and put themselves in a box that neither of them had actually thought to define.

"He's my boyfriend I guess." He answered finally, with half of a shrug. The other man seemed shocked - maybe a little dressed down too - at the admission and Rhys sighed, "Anyway!" he clapped his hands merrily, happy to have his hands washed of the smarmy man and his incredibly obvious hair piece. "I'll go and talk to him. Who knows? You might be right."

"There's my pretty secretary," Jack flirted with him openly as he stood in the door, "Meg come back from her break yet?"

Rhys shook his head, "No." he said, "I think she'll be back in twenty minutes though."

Jack hummed in response, "Just make sure not to work that pretty ass of yours too hard."

"Someone wants to meet with you?" He stated in a questioning tone, finding himself flustered again by the older mans' rabid flirting. "I...uh, I'll go get him."

Jack snickered, "You do that, darlin'."

* * *

Jack was mildly put off to see Vasquez in his office again and he made it clear that although Hugo was a fairly good worker, he wouldn't trust him farther than he could throw him. "This better be good, Wallet Head." He leaned back casually, regarding the other man with some distaste.

"Hello, Handsome Jack s-s-sir."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm so great I know- get on with it."

"Well, I came on behalf of the sales department to r-request an i-increase in the budget-"

Jack said, "No." before the other man could even present an argument, leaving him no room for arguments unless he was very bold or very, very stupid.

Vasquez proved to be the latter as he continued on with his presentation, "Well sir, if you would just-" Vasquez was cut off by the slamming sound of Jacks' hand hitting his own desk in righteous anger and Rhys watched the exchange with interest.

"If I would just, _what?"_ The CEO snapped at him viscerally.

"Oh no." Rhys mumbled to himself, sinking further and further into his space in his own anxiety.

"Sir, Handsome Jack all I mean to say is that if the budget were increased we could increase productivity by at least..." Vasquez faltered, becoming forgetful with his fear of Jack and whatever reckoning the CEO would decide to put upon him. "...fif-fifteen percent. At least."

If Hugo expected Jack to be even somewhat impressed, he would have been sorely disappointed when the truth smacked him in the face. "You're a bunch of telemarketers and pharmaceutical reps. You're not advertising, you're not R&D. you're a bunch a entry level douche-bags and if you guys can't keep productivity up that is totally on you." Jack sneered, "The budget stays as-fucking-is."

Vasquez seemed as pig-headed as Jack was, so he continued on persistently, "Well if we had some help-"

"What else do you need me to do for you?" Jack snapped rhetorically, clearly infuriated that the board member thought he had the right to talk to him like that. The CEO stood up which, judging by the way the smaller man visibly shrunk was not a good thing in the least. "Point your dick in the toilet while you take a piss?"

"S-s-s-sir, I didn't mean to suggest that-"

Jack looked almost murderous for a moment but the look was quickly replaced by adamant disgust, "Get the hell out of my office." he spat at the man, "And I don't want you coming in with that stupid fucking idea ever again."

Vasquez ran from Jacks' office so fast that he tripped over his own feet and stumbled out in the most mortified way that Rhys had ever seen outside of the movies.

"That was…" Rhys paused looking for the correct word to say to the older man, "…intense."

"Yeah, well...' Jack grinned at Rhys as he spoke, "Wallet-heads a fucking idiot."

"Wallet head?" Rhys queried, blinking in confusion at the nick name. "Why do you call him _that?"_

Jack snorted at the memory, "He used to work in the mail room and he had these stupid fucking hair plugs, everyone knew they were fake but-" he laughed, "I would stick dollar bills to the back of his head! It was- ha, the _best."_

Rhys giggled in reply, "That is truly horrible, Jack."

"Mm," The older man glanced over at him, "You don't seem all that broken up about it in any case."

The younger man shrugged, "He was a little rude, before he found out who I am." then he bit his lip and shook his head nervously, "To you I mean, of course."

Rhys didn't think much of the way that Vasquez had behaved towards him, for all he knew the man thought he was just an intern or something equally low on the corporate ladder. In any case, it wasn't even close to the worst he'd been treated by a judgmental stranger.

"Yeeeeaaaah," Jack commented vaguely, "I noticed that."

Rhys blinked at that, "Oh…you did?"

"Yeah." Jack answered, "

"You didn't need to do that, Jack." He said, but it didn't stop him from relaxing further into the other mans' chest.

"I've told you before," Jack reminded, "You're all mine and I always look out for what's mine so yeah, I gave ol' wallet-head a good kick to the ego but it's not like he didn't deserve it."

Rhys sighed at that, knowing how stubborn Jack could be and decided to drop the entire subject because when it came down to it there was no arguing with the man when he would set his mind on something.

"Do you need anything else from me while I'm covering for Meg?" he asked instead.

"Coffee. Black coffee," Jack grunted, "There's a shop right across from this building, go there and get me some and go and get yourself whatever the hell you want too."

"Okay," He hummed as he turned to take his leave of his soul mate.

"Rhysie, wait." Jack called and he only had the chance to do a three-quarter turn before the older man had his hands encasing Rhys' hips and giving them a possessive squeeze as he did so and crashed his lips against the others' roughly.

Rhys blushed as the kiss broke off, "What was that all about?"

"Cause I wanted to," Jack answered simply, "I like kissing you, you're real kissable."

From there Rhys' blush only intensified by tens, "...Oh." he hummed, "Okay I… I'll go and do...that thing you wanted me to do now..."

Jack whistled obnoxiously as Rhys walked off, successfully having his soul mate spluttering and blushing like the attention was something he had absolutely no idea what to do with.

* * *

Spending the whole day playing secretary for Jack was an amazing distraction for his inner conflict, so he surprisingly enjoyed the mindless busywork that Jack was imposing on him while Meg was away for however long her break was.

That wasn't to say that he would blame Meg because from the looks of her, Jack had been running her ragged for whoever knows long – poor girl needed an hour or two to decompress and relax before she keeled over from all the stress.

So he was strolling into a little bistro and waiting on the baristas' to get Jacks' regular order of the biggest black coffee and a caramel latte for him.

"Here ya go, hun." The barista, a warm looking girl in her twenties, said to him as she handed him the two drinks.

He was on his way back to Hyperion when a familiar sounding voice called out his name. Rhys shrugged thinking to ignore it in case it was one of the many people who had hurt him. Whoever it was, continually persisted with a louder, "Rhys?!" The familiar voice became closer and then there was a hand on his shoulder, "It _is_ you."

It was Vaughn and that left Rhys conflicted again – He really adored his best friend and missed him terribly but his life was still needlessly complicated and he wasn't sure that he wanted to implicate someone so normal and good in his drama.

"I..." Rhys was let speechless at the sight of his long lost best friend, "...Hi." he added stupidly, unsure of what to say to the shorter man.

"Rhys, I- man, How'd you get here?" Vaughn seemed surprised but not unhappy with him, so the taller man heaved out a sigh of relief. "Last I saw, you were

"I live here." Rhys supplied, "Well...not here, here but – well, I live in Opportunity with my boyfriend….type soul mate...thing." he finished awkwardly.

"You met your soul mate?" Vaughn grinned at him as he asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"You're alright, then?" he asked gently, "you weren't – you're relatives...they didn't..."

"They kicked me out." Rhys answered Vaughns' uncomfortably unasked questions with ease, "I was hitch hiking my way to a city where I could find work or something?" he shook his head, "It was...definitely a life experience I don't want to relive."

"Man that's the worst." Vaughn stated sympathetically but with little surprise at it. Rhys' parents had treated him little better than a housekeeper at best and when Rhys had confided everything that had gone on in that house, he felt a clear sort of hatred for them.

"Well, I'm a lot better now." he said finally, deciding to bury the thoughts and put it in a box like everything else that he didn't want to address in his life.

"Sorry I lost touch with you like that," the shorter male apologized seemingly out of nowhere, "It was kind of a dick move for me to do that to you."

Rhys shrugged in kind, "It's not a big deal man." he dismissed easily, "I'm just glad I got to see you again."

"...You're a really good person, do you know that?" Vaughn responded with a question, "God those people make me so mad..." he trailed off, "But your soul mate, he treats you right?"

' _That'_ _s sort of a loaded question',_ Rhys thought and he bit his lip deep in thought.

On the one hand; Jack was amazing to him, he treated Rhys like a prince – spoiled the hell out of him and did everything in his power to make Rhys feel comfortable with his new situation.

And on the other hand….Jack _killed_ people. He preyed on people, he hurt innocent people and for the most part Rhys was okay with it. How could anyone be okay with something like that?

He finally decided on his plan of pretending that nothing had changed and said, "He's great. You should… I dunno come over or something if you got the time off."

"Yeah, man. That sounds good." Vaughn agreed, "Great. It sounds great."

The best thing about it was that there was no awkwardness or bad feelings for one another when they reconnected. It was just Rhys and Vaughn; two best friends against the world with each other.

* * *

Rhys returned feeling a mixture of elation and depression; it was the oddest sensation that wouldn't leave him.

He noticed Meg was back and she was speaking to Jack in hushed tones. He approached the two with purposeful loudness. "Hey, you're back!" Rhys greeted Meg, who looked much less haggard than she had before hand. "I got your coffee and stuff. Sorry I took so long," he said to Jack, "I ran into an old friend."

Jack knew exactly who Rhys was talking about, his short nerdy friend from high school ended up getting an accounting job working for Hyperion.

It sounded like an amazing coincidence, until you realized that Hyperion was a multi-chartered corporation with more job opportunities than most fast-food chains might have. The only thing really amazing was that Vaughn was good enough to get a job on Helios.

"Don't worry about it, babe." He dismissed easily, "Everything's pretty much done for today, so come in when you're ready to head off with, alright?" He didn't give Rhys a chance to answer before he waltzed back into his office.

Rhys snorted, "Rude." he mumbled to himself.

"Thank you for covering me, Rhys." Meg thanked him once Jack was out of ear shot and she looked at Rhys with grateful eyes. "You're a real...you're an amazing person."

"Don't sound so surprised!" Rhys admonished with an easy grin.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean it like that...it's just that well..." She sighed, "You know how Mr. Lawrence can be so abrasive." she whispered the word 'abrasive' as if Jack would appear from the bushes and fire her.

"He's not cruel to you or anything, right?"

"Oh no!" She put her hands up in alarm, "He's a little hard to work with but...well you know he's a much better boss than most of the executives I've worked for."

"Oh, okay." He nodded, "Good, I really wouldn't be happy with him if he was being mean to you in addition to over working you like that."

She laughed with good humor at that, "You're really sweet. I'm glad you two could find each other."

The two were interrupted by Jack loudly letting Rhys know that they were leaving and if he didn't get his 'cute little ass' over where he was then Jack was going to pick him up and carry him home.

Rhys in his stammering embarrassment, was quick to obey.

* * *

 _Logically he knew that telling Vaughn was a bad idea but he needed to talk to someone about it. The only other person he had told was his therapist and he had only told her because he knew she wouldn't be able to report it without his or his mothers consent and his mother didn't even believe that anything was happening to him._

" _He seriously does those things to you?" Vaughn sounded angry, "He freaking rapes you?"_

 _Rhys nodded, "But you can't say anything. Okay?"_

" _Rhys I..."_

" _No! You don't understand." He pleaded, putting his hand on Vaughn's shoulder in a begging gesture and the shorter male could tell that Rhys was shaking as he began chanting, "He'll kill me. He'll kill me, he'll kill me."_

" _Rhys." Vaughn said his name in such a placating tone almost as if he thought that he would shatter into a million pieces if Vaughn touched him or spoke to harshly to Rhys. "Just calm down, please."_

" _You have to promise me." Rhys demanded, still in that pathetic pleading tone. "You can't tell anyone."_

" _Yeah." Vaughn agreed warily, "I won't say anything man."_

 _It's not like he blamed Vaughn for avoiding Rhys after he graduated, he understood why he did it; Rhys was dealing with a lot of heavy stuff and he had no idea how to react to it._

 _Normal teenagers dealt with their parents yelling at them for breaking curfew or having to prep for finals. Rhys on the other hand was living in a war zone and he couldn't fault his friend for not wanting to deal with all the baggage that came with being Rhys' friend._

 _He wouldn't blame anyone for that._

* * *

Rhys was snapped out of his reverie by Jack shaking his shoulder with flagrant worry and concern, "Rhys! Rhysie, baby what the hell?"

Rhys didn't say anything, so Jack persisted. "Anything I can do for you?" He asked, keeping his arm around the younger male and encased him in a comforting warmth.

"Touch me?" He pleaded softly.

"Touch you." Jack repeated dully, like he hadn't heard Rhys right and wanted to make sure that the younger man was asking for what he believed him to be asking for.

"Please, I want the memory of him out of my head." Rhys begged, "I can't handle it I want something nice to replace the bad memories. Help me forget." Jack couldn't help but coo at the way Rhys guided his hand to the younger mans groin with a barely audible utterance of, "Please."

"Tell me what you want, kitten." Jack demanded, "I can't give you something if I don't know what it is."

"Please," He whined, arching up into the older man. "More, please. Please, Jack. Please." he babbled needlessly. "Anything, everything."

"You tell me if you need to stop, sweet heart." Jack murmured as he took to unbuttoning Rhys' button down shirt, "And I don't give a fuck if I'm balls deep inside of you if you want to stop." he added in an almost joking tone.

Rhys didn't like having the arm off so when Jack went to unlock the cybernetic from its' joints he whined in protest to the older man, who just shook his head. "I don't want you accidentally hurting yourself with it, or knocking any of the wires loose." he joked easily.

Rhys flushed at the implication and mumbled about what an egotist Jack was but stopped his protest in favor of clinging to the man as he was undressed.

"Lay back on our bed," Jack ordered him, "And lift your hips for me Rhysie."

He did as he was told, blushing in his nakedness as he presented himself to the other man, "This'll be the first time you've had sex, huh." Jack hummed in a pleased manner as he leaned over Rhys with a bottle of lube in hand.

"No, there was...you know Frank and-"

"That's not sex, sweetheart." Jack corrected him, cutting him off in the process. "That's rape," he admonished as he poured out a generous amount of the lube onto his hand and slathered it over Rhys' entrance.

The younger man yelped in surprise at how cold it was, inching back from the intrusion but Jack was quick to pull him forward again and start over, "Gotta have you nice and ready for me, pretty little thing." Jack hummed as he eased his thumb into the others' slick orifice.

Jack took his time opening Rhys up and he didn't pull back until he was satisfied that he was slick and open enough for him, "Any particular way you want it?" Rhys blinked in confusion at the question before the older man amended his statement with, "Positions. Like, do you want to be on your back or your stomach when I-"

"I want to see your face." Rhys cut him off firmly, "Please." he added afterward, in a softer tone.

He was always on his stomach or pressed into some kind of surface whenever Frank would use him and he didn't think he would be ready for something like that for a while.

The older man reached for something and upon realizing it was a box of condoms Rhys shook his head and protested loudly, "Put those back."

"No condoms?" Jack asked, with an arched brow. "Kinky."

"No condoms." Rhys agreed, "I want him out of me inside and out."

Jack hummed his agreement, manhandling Rhys on his lap and taking a moment to appreciate how truly pretty Rhys was and how good he looked naked and spread out for him like that. He'd be a moron not to want to look at that gorgeous face come undone. "That sounds good to me, kitten."

Jacks cock rested at Rhys' entrance, nudging its' way past the tight ring of muscle. He winced in pain at the feeling but Jack was quick to sooth and relax him, telling him how good he was doing and urging him to relax.

"That's my boy, Rhysie." He cooed as he eased himself into the younger man, the movements were so gentle that they bordered on teasing and Rhys whined softly. Whether in protest or delight, the neither of them could decipher and Jack bottomed out and was seated fully inside of him, Rhys grappled onto Jacks shoulder with his organic arm.

Jack said a lot of things while he rocked into Rhys. He told him how tight he was. How pretty he was, how perfect he was. All of the talk had him blushing and whining in delight.

He let out a surprised squeal when the older man hoisted Rhys up and pulled almost all the way out of him before rocking back into him and the older man grinned at him like a madman when the two of them locked eyes.

Jack brushed Rhys' out of place fringe from his face, "That good?" he hummed teasingly to the auburn haired man flippantly and all Rhys could do was mewl like a kitten while his soul mate berated his body. "There's my good boy."

Despite being the one to ask for this, Rhys almost expected the visions and flashbacks to come at him like an angry swarm of mental instability but it didn't...instead all he could focus on was how full he felt and how deep inside of him Jack was.

He moved his hips in time with the other mans' thrusts purely out of visceral instinct and after awhile he began to feel his own orgasm building, Jacks' hand never stopped pumping his erection the entire time he bounced on the older mans' lap and he came with a cry of his soul mates' name.

It was strange because he had never really been an active participant before, used more like a receptacle for someone else to cum inside of but he found that he actually enjoyed sex when it wasn't something that someone would use to terrorize him with.

Jack came shortly after with shallowly thrusting into Rhys' overstimulated body a few times. The two just sat there, entwined in one another. Rhys head on his chest and with Jack having one arm wrapped around the slighter mans' body.

Moments later he noticed that Jack was still inside of him, like he hadn't thought to bother with pulling out of Rhys and it had him feeling fuzzy and if he hadn't been feeling so good, he never would have said, "I know you kill people." like a mentally deficient idiot who had no idea how to keep anything to himself.

Jack froze at Rhys' admission, "What?" he growled out as he tried to think of an adequate lie to placate the younger mans' worries but Rhys was still talking.

"It's okay, though." Rhys said, "I know you..." he frowned and trailed off, "...kill people and I'm okay with it." he smiled, "You probably don't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it at least a little."

"You know?" Jack asked, so quiet that if there were a bunch of other people in the room only Rhys would have been able to hear. "Exactly how long have you known?"

"At least six weeks." Rhys answered, faintly aware of how vulnerable he was. He was naked on a serial killers lap with his legs spread open and said serial killer balls deep inside of him. This was ridiculously impulsive, even for him.

Still, he continued on with his babbled confession. "I...came across those IDs and I saw Colins..." he added, Jack grunted in response and Rhys unwittingly clenched around him in his anxiety. "I'm not gonna tell anyone, I… I can't leave you." he kept going, "I...Jack, I love you so much that it _hurts."_

Jack wrapped his arms around Rhys' slighter frame, delighted by the admission, "How much do you love me, sweet heart?" he cooed sweetly to the younger man.

"So, so much." Rhys hummed back, "Don't leave me. I don't – I couldn't handle it if you left me."

That set a possessive fire inside of the older man and he took to kissing down his neck and murmuring sweet and dirty nothings to the younger man, "Don't worry baby I'm not gonna leave you." he said soothingly, "I'm not gonna hurt you, darling. Alright? I take good care of my possessions."

If it were anyone else, someone a little less attached and dependent; the admission wouldn't have seemed so romantic.

If it were someone a little more normal, they would have run for the hills the moment they found out they were involved with a killer but Rhys wasn't normal and Jack was his soul mate.

The last thing Rhys heard before he fell into a dazed sleep was Jack promising to him, "I'll do anything to protect you because you're mine. You're all mine, kitten and if anyone dares to put you in any harm is as good as dead."

A few hours later Rhys woke up laying on his side, stark nude and alone and he began to panic because Jack was nowhere to be found. Rhys shot up, looking around for any signs of the man and came upon a note in Jacks' handwriting. He let out a sigh in relief as he read it over.

' _Rhysie,_

 _Had some crap to take care of._

 _Don't worry babe. I won't be gone long._

 _Luv ya – Jack.'_

Rhys smiled sleepily as he read the note over again, laying back in the bed and falling back into a heavy sleep.

Everything was going to be fine, he didn't have to have that awful truth mixing in with guilt of not telling his soul mate the truth.

'Everything will be fine', He told himself over and over again so he could keep his sanity, 'it will be alright. we'll work this out.'

* * *

Jack was parked about one hundred miles out of town with a twenty-three year old kid that had tried to mug him drugged and chained to a table in his caravan. He generally waited a little longer between kills but this was an emergency.

Rhys knew, his sweet soul mate who wanted to help everybody that he passed on the street and took such good care of Angel whenever he couldn't knew what a monster he was and the worst thing about it was that Rhys didn't seem to be repelled by him in the slightest.

It had him feeling mixed at best.

But that wasn't something he would worry about, not right now. He wasn't going to focus on all the needlessly complicated questions buzzing around in his head, questions that he knew if he had asked Rhys them the kid wouldn't have any answers for. Because he would bet good money that Rhys was just as much in the dark as he was.

"You got someone at home, pumpkin?" Jack asked rhetorically, looking down on him with superiority and mirth. "Someone who loves you, or even gives a damn about you?"

Muffled screams from behind a makeshift gag of duck tape were the only replies he got.

"Mmm, I figured." Jack condescended to the thug. "Well, I got this pretty, long legged little thing waiting for me at home."

Jack grinned and pulled out a long, thin knife from his kill bag. "He's a real fucking sweet heart." Jack continued on with his monologue as he drove the knife into the victims collar bone.

"Not like you," he added, "You're a criminal, you tried to steal from me." he pulled the blade out, hearing the uncomfortable crunch of muscle and bone but very little blood flowed from the wound.

Good, he wanted to take his time with this one. Get all of his frustrations out so he could truly figure out what to do with his Rhysie, he just needed a clear head.

"We're gonna have a long night, kid." Jack cooed to him in a sickeningly sweet tone, "I've got a lot of rage to work through and this straight up therapeutic for me."

The victim sobbed pathetically and kept saying something on repeat from behind the gag and after a few minutes of amusement at the useless attempts at escape from his binds.

"What is your name, anyway?" Jack asked rhetorically, digging through the victims pocket and coming upon his wallet.

"Dave Norris." Jack hummed thoughtfully, "Huh. That's a stupid fucking name." he added before slicing down Daves' stomach with his knife. "Well, anyway more about my Rhysie." Jack continued on with his diatribe gleefully. "He's amazing, so forgiving of me."

The slices came in all sorts of different directions, seemingly random but completely purposeful as Jack was sure to avoid any and all arteries. "He knows I kill people, but he's alright with it." He grinned and turned around to come back with a spoon-like device.

Jack mercilessly drove the tool into the mans eye, "Could'ya believe somethin' like that. Guess that's the kind of devotion you get with a soul mate."

He took his time with torturing his victim, working out all of his anger at himself and all the frustration of feeling so much care for someone since god knows how long before. He played with knives, a cattle prod and amputation of fingers and toes.

Once he was ready to finally put the idiot out of his misery he realized with a frown that Dave Norris had died before he could get his wire out and finish the job properly, "Weak vermin." he spat at the corpse while he prepared to get rid of the body efficiently.

* * *

When Jack returned home, it was late so he didn't worry about waking Rhys or Angel as he washed the blood off of himself and burnt away his clothes.

 _Shame about those,_ he thought. He actually really like those clothes and he hadn't an idea that he would pick up a hemophiliac otherwise he would have just punched him and looked around for someone else.

He returned to his bedroom in fresh, clean clothes

Rhys was asleep in their bed, curled up in a ball with his knees tucked into his chin and arms looped around his legs. He noticed tear streaks down the younger mans' face and felt a pang of guilt for leaving him alone like that.

"Hey, pumpkin." He hummed softly to Rhys as he eased in bed next to him, wrapping a protective arm around his soul mate. In his sleep the younger man turned over and nuzzled against Jacks' broader form, he murmured something unintelligible to the bloodied man.

Rhys' eyes fluttered open and he murmured, "You're back!" with a happy, sleepy smile on his face.

"Where'd you think I'd go?" Jack questioned teasingly, "I got everything I could possibly need right..." he trailed his hand down and squeezed Rhys' hip gently, "here."

"You're not mad at me?"

He almost questioned what exactly Rhys thought he might be mad about because it wasn't his fault that Jack killed people to blow off steam and it certainly wasn't his fault that he found out about it, but he thought better of it.

"Nah," He soothed the younger man, "I'm not mad, this is gonna open up a whole lot'a doors for us, Rhysie." He added honestly, because after killing that petty thief he felt amazing again and he really started to see the silver lining in this whole thing.

Now he wouldn't need to lie to his soul mate at all hours about where he was going or what he was doing. No, he could just tell him and maybe even bring Rhys along on some of his "trips"

Maybe he could even teach him a thing or two but he would never force Rhys to kill anybody but if the urge came up with someone that the amber haired male believed truly deserved to be eradicated then Jack would be the last one to stop him.


	8. Chapter 8

Rhys was much more peaceful when he was asleep, even more so when Jack wrapped his arms around his smaller frame in a way that told Rhys' subconscious that he was safe and protected. That he had no reason to worry, no reason to cry or try to kick and fight.

He loved it, the way that Rhys seemed to just implicitly trust Jack, mushing his face against Jacks' chest and drooling a bit on his night shirts – which was a little gross, but still pretty cute when Rhys would be the one doing it – he just seemed so...at peace and Jack couldn't help but be enraptured by it.

Rhys' eyes fluttered as he raised his head to look at Jack, "Hi..." he mumbled with his voice rough from sleep and his clothes in disarray.

"G'morning beautiful." Jack commented, carding his hand through Rhys' sleep worn auburn locks in a reverential manner.

Rhys smiled sleepily at the pet name, allowing himself to adjust to a state of wakefulness. "I'm gonna make some breakfast." he said as trotted into his part of their shared closet for some new clothes.

"Sore?" Jack asked him with a grin and walked over to the young man, he wrapped his arms around Rhys' slim waist and pressed a kiss to his neck.

"I'm okay." Rhys acquiesced, "I...That was fun. Even though there was some… I had fun." he was looking at anything but Jacks' face, suddenly feeling very small and embarrassed. He flushed and bit his lip, "I'm sorry. I'm being stupid, sorry."

"Don't be like that, Rhysie." Jack ordered of him, "You know that you have nothing to fear from me and I would never hurt you." he enunciated the point with another chaste kiss on his neck. "No need to apologize for anything."

Rhys nodded, "I know. I know! I'm just.." He trailed off and sighed as he tried to figure out the exact word to use, "Regressing?" he said finally and questioningly. He wasn't even sure if the feeling he had was something he could put into words or if it was just ineffable.

Rhys leaned down and rooted through his clothes for the right outfit to wear and Jack hummed noncommittally to his statement. "I dunno." He acquiesced, "I told you that Angel has a thing tonight, right?"

"Shit, remind me." Jack replied, feeling like an idiot. He forgot things like this a lot, between running Hyperion and making sure that he didn't spend the rest of his life in prison there wasn't a lot of memory space left for anything else.

"She's doing a play at her school." he supplied easily, "I think it's on Thanksgiving? I'm sure that it'll be rightfully adorable." he trailed off as he dressed himself, "Please tell me that you didn't forget."

"Right. Right, uh – yeah..." Jack said stupidly, "I'm drawin' a blank here, Rhysie. I must have completely forgot."

"Oh." Rhys uttered, "Well, that's not really a big deal, right?" he added, trying to calm his soul mates avid guilt. "I was gonna go with you to Helios today because Vaughn and Gaige wanted to have lunch with me so I can just have Meg clear your schedule or move your meetings around..."

Rhys put his hands on Jacks' forearms, a gentle and calming motion that did the trick for Jack, who grinned at his soul mate and said, "You're a goddamn saint, babe."

The young man made a happy noise and put his hands on Jacks' shoulders, "I know." he hummed teasingly before he pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of Jacks' mouth.

"I ever tell you how much I fuckin' love you?" Jack asked him then, with complete and utter seriousness. "Cause I do."

"It's come up on occasion," he replied with a giggle, "I love you too. So much."

Rhys knows that they say it a lot – so much that Vaughn decided to comment on it one time. Though he thinks it's different because when he tells Jack that he loves him, and when Jack says it back or visa versa, it's truer than anything else that he had ever spoken in his life.

He loved Jack, he loved him when he thought that he was an amazing man, he loved him still knowing that he was they type of man who kidnapped people, tortured them and killed them because those two people.

The Jack that he had met in that rest stop, the Jack that had rescued him, had taken care of him and loved him…and the Jack he knew now, the one who liked to hurt people and had killed god knows how many before the two of them had met – were one in the same.

Although the idea of it was so surreal that he had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept – Rhys rolled with it because the alternative was something he didn't think he could even bear.

Feeling jubilant and giddy, Rhys walked down the hall and made Jack and Angel a veritable feast for breakfast because he felt so good, so safe and so well taken care of that it was the only way that he could think to thank his newfound family.

* * *

Rhys spent his lunches with Gaige and Vaughn more often than not these days, he liked the fact that he had a few friends that were his own age. He liked the fact that there was more than one person who enjoyed his company now a days – it was validating….nice, he supposed and it made him feel good.

Plus, because his two – and only – friends worked and spent most of their lives on Helios he could pop in and spend a little bit of time with Jack. He was still a little surprised that Jack sat next to him for a few moments, a possessive arm around his waist as he spoke to him.

"Hey there, gorgeous." Jack hummed in his ear, one of his thumbs stroked down his neck. "Your birthdays comin' up."

"I know that." Rhys mumbled with a nervous giggle, "It's _my_ birthday."

"Any ideas on what you want for it?"

"Um, maybe I could get a new tattoo?" He asked hopefully, "It's been a while since I got my cover tattoos and I thought maybe I'd get another one? A small one?"

Vaughns' mother had been the one to pay for his cover tattoos, she was a delightful person who really wanted him to feel better about himself and she figured that it would help if Rhys had something pretty covering all of his scars.

He remember how incensed with him Frank had been but to his initial surprise his step father made no move to remove the tattoos because it was too close to Rhys' eighteenth birthday to try and "fix" Rhys' supposed disciplinary issues.

"Oh ho ho, kitten!" Jack replied with a wolfish grin, "I am more than happy for you to get as much pretty ink on your body as you want, what were you thinkin'?"

"Um, maybe something on my neck." he hummed sheepishly, "Something simple. Maybe like a circular design, kinda like a target or..."

"A target on your neck." Jack stated in a gleeful yet dumbfounded tone, he sounded truly excited by Rhys' idea.

"Well, not exactly but-"

"So I get the perfect place to bite and mark you up there?" Jack seemed please, completely intent on using that idea and Rhys flushed at the way Jack spoke to him.

It didn't sound entirely awful, though – so Rhys opted to go along with Jacks' idea.

"Yes…?" he agreed hesitantly, "Kinda? But not exactly-"

"Well, I'm sold babe." Jack decided in a way that said, 'that was that'. "That'll definitely be part of your birthday."

"Part?" Rhys asked, sounding exasperated. "It's not gonna be anything crazy, right?"

"You told me a while back that you never had a birthday party." Jack responded with a shrug.

He noticed then that Vaughn and Gaige were watching the exchange with captivation, like this was the finale for some sort of TV show that they had been binge watching instead of living their lives.

"But-" Rhys was about to protest when he realized that he may have just dug his own grave with this situation, "I did, didn't I?"

Rhys deflated a bit because although the idea of having a big, extravagant birthday party sounded fantastic to him he just wasn't sure how he could handle all the attention and stimuli.

"Yeah, so I figured that you'd have a fucking awesome 19th."

"Oh...well...okay." Rhys finally surrendered, too flustered to truly fight back and battle Jacks' juggernaut of pride with his own. "Nothing to crazy, alright?"

Whether or not Jack heard him was unknown to Rhys – though he was sure that his soul mate had pointedly ignored what he said in favor of spoiling him a bit more.

After Jack walked off to go and make sure – in his words – that Hyperion didn't burn to the ground, there was about several minutes of the most awkward, suffocating silence that Rhys had ever endured in his relatively short life.

"I still can't get over the fact that Handsome Jack is your soul mate." Vaughn commented out of the blue, in reality he might have just been incredibly uncomfortable with the display of public affection that Handsome Jack had shown Rhys in front of them.

"He's just so…" he trailed off and fiddled with his glasses a bit, "Screamy. He yells at literally everyone and sometimes when he smiles I get chills." he leaned in seriously, "Like I'm gonna witness a murder or..."

Rhys completely brushed over how close Vaughn was to the truth – Jack did kill people that he didn't know so that he could ease his frustrations with the people that he did after all – and grinned, more out of anxiousness than anything else, when Vaughn brought it up.

"It's not… I dunno, man. He just...loves me...I guess?" He tried, "It's...you know, everything just...clicks?"

"Ew." Vaughn joked, "Is all this mushiness what having a soul mates gonna be like?"

"Oh, believe me my math-y friend." Gaige quipped, "It'll be worse." she clapped a friendly hand on his shoulder as she fiddled with some defective robot instead of eating.

"Really?" Vaughn quipped back, "You got a soul mate, Gaige? I thought you only had time for engineering?"

The Mechromancer made a face at Vaughn, "Ew, yeah I...no. I'm just...me? I guess? I don't have a soul mate right now and I don't care if I ever meet mine." she had a sour expression, "But my parents are and they...are...gross."

"Oh come on." Rhys protested, crossed his arms over his chest not unlike a petulant child. "Me and Jack aren't gross."

The other two just looked at Rhys as if he was an insane person for a full minute before Vaughn supplied, "Dude, bro, best friend I've ever had – you two are so disgustingly cute that I want to vomit every time you two talk."

Gaige snorted at that, "It's not _that_ bad." she disagreed on behalf of Rhys, who was entirely grateful that someone was willing to allow him his own ideas about himself. "It's just jarring, really."

"Jarring? I don't see how it's jarring."

"Well, Jacks' like...crazy." She explained, "So, it's weird to see him acting all nice and healthy with someone." she arched a brow, "It's like your his kryptonite. it's _adorable."_ she gushed, "I totally ship you guys-" Gaige clapped her hands over her mouth in mortification as she realized the words she said out loud.

"Ship?" Rhys cocked his head at her in abject curiosity. "Like a boat, or...no that's not right. What does that mean?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all...nope." Gaige flushed and leaned back in her seat in faux casualty, "I just...support you guys. Because you're my friend, Rhys. Yep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

"You are so weird." Vaughn commented with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah? Well, you like math." Gaige snapped in a sardonic tone. She crossed her arms over her chest in a triumphant manner as if that settled the entire debate.

"So?" Vaughn queried back with an equally flippant tone.

"No one likes math!" She snapped, "That's sooooooooo weird and like…suspicious?"

"Rhys? A little help, bro?" Vaughn tried in vain as Rhys couldn't stop laughing at the two of them, he gave the taller man his best puppy dog look, "Come on man don't leave me like this!"

"You're a math robot." Gaige stated cryptically, "Created by the government to confuse us and drive us to insanity wondering why anyone would bother working in finances."

"He….oh my god," Rhys could barely speak, laughing harder than he had in at least a month. "He's not an android Gaige. Some people, ha! Some people just like math, Gaige it's not..." he shrugged as he trailed off, completely wordless about

"I'm not following." She looked at Rhys like he had just contracted some sort of disease, "That doesn't track. What kind of person-"

"Some people are just boring?"

Vaughn bristled at that, even more offended by that than the prospect that he was a robot. "I am not boring!" he argued.

Gaige responded by poking him with one of her chrome fingers, "He looks so life like." she commented wondrously.

Despite Vaughns' completely mortified expression Rhys joined in, "Obviously," he said in a tone of faux condescension. "I mean, how else would it convince the American people?"

"Unbelievable." Vaughn stated, "I can't believe you – and you just – you two are horrible. I should just leave you two here to stew in your...your meanness."

"No Vaughn don't go!" Rhys pleaded in an overtly exaggerated manner, "We're sorry – really." he added sincerely, with a look at Gaige that said, 'Please be nice to my best friend.'

Gaige huffed and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest not unlike a petulant child and puffing out air in a disgruntled fashion. "Sorry." she said in a faux apologetic manner. "I really mean it."

"No you don't." Vaughn replied, "But that's alright I guess," he cracked a wry grin, "Robots are emotionally resilient."

As Gaige practically flipped over the table as she exclaimed about how right she was, Rhys couldn't help but smile and giggle – He felt good and not just good, he felt _amazing._ Some part of Rhys thought that something awful was about to happen soon – things just didn't go well for him for long.

Then his grin faded as his thoughts began to fill to the brim with paranoia at all the awful things that were bound to come to him.

* * *

Jack had been doing research on Rhys' family, wanting to know the ins and outs of their lives; weaknesses, addictions, criminal records, properties, places they went and things they did that they thought nobody would be able to track.

He was an amazing hacker and he had a lot of connections on the dark net so he figured that he could easily find out something distasteful that could get Rhys' step-father in prison for the rest of his life.

It would be much easier to kill him, he could swoop in, torture the two abusers and be out without anyone noticing him without too much trouble.

The thing about it was that no matter how much he tortured and tormented the fuck, he would still end up dead and Jack thought that death was just too good a fate for this sick, pathetic creep.

He deserved to spend the rest of his life feeling just as scared and scarred as Rhys had spent most, if not all of his childhood feeling.

That would be the kind of poetic irony that Rhys' abusers needed to face. But he had to be patient and that was the only issue here. He wasn't great at sitting and waiting – he was the type of man who got an idea in his head and couldn't – wouldn't let it go until he had it done and done right.

Especially something so important such as this.

He realized quickly that Rhys' mother was practically a ghost, she didn't have much to speak of in terms of a paper or digital trail. All he could find was a relatively bleak job at a law firm and a shared bank account with her husband.

That was a damn shame, she was just as guilty as Frank was because standing on the side lines and letting someone else be hurt like that was just as evil in Jacks' eyes as being the one who had been doing it in the first place.

And he was close, he could feel it in his bones – Soon enough he would have that rat bastard and his wife behind bars and if not...he had a lot of other ways to get rid of disgusting people.

"Jack?" Rhys called, a gentle rapping on the door to Jacks' study accompanied the younger mans voice. "Are you busy?"

Jack was snapped from his thoughts of victory and vengeance then and looked back at the door with a foreboding look, "Come in, kitten." he called after he had made sure that everything he had been looking at was out of the way.

No point in causing his soul mate any sort of anxiety over this, he rationalized to himself.

Jack gave his soul mate a very pointed once over, "You look good, Rhysie." he purred sweetly. "All dolled up."

Jack wasn't exaggerating either, though he supposed he was probably biased as he always thought that Rhys looked amazing.

Definitely biased, he thought because Rhys had looked gorgeous to him when he was dirty with unkempt hair and clothes not to mention malnourished when the two of them had first met.

It wasn't even as if he was dressed in any of the more formal clothes that Jack had purchased for him – just a plain button down shirt and a pair of skinny slacks and still it held a great effect on the older man.

Rhys rolled his eyes at his soul mates leering and let out an undignified snort, "Like you should be. Are you almost ready to go?" he asked, moving over to where Jack sat. "Angels' really excited to be doing her first play." he added with a tiny smile on his face, "It's so cute."

" _You're_ so cute." Jack hummed, "Come here."

Rhys pursed his lips and walked ever so slowly over to the older man, moving to sit on the edge of his desk. He sat down and smiled at the older man, a wry smirk on his face.

"ARE YOU TWO READY YET?" Angel called, loudly and impatiently from outside of the room – she wasn't allowed in Jacks' study under any circumstances so Rhys. "WE NEED TO BE THERE BY SIX."

"I know, I KNOW, we're coming down in a moment baby girl!" Jack called back, equally as loud as his daughter had been. "BE PATIENT."

Jack smirked at Rhys, "She's acting uncharacteristically bratty about this, don't you think?" he asked wryly.

"She's just really excited." Rhys defended the dark haired girl stubbornly seated outside of the older mans' office. "Don't hold it against her." he added with an amused grin at Jacks' indignant expression.

"I totally get it," Rhys continued, "I did a lot of drama when I was in school and…well I told you she got the lead, right?" he asked, rhetorically as he continued on his ramblings.

All the while Jack grinned, thoroughly enjoying the way that Rhys acted whenever he got flustered.

"She _is_ really into the acting." Rhys repeated himself, for the sake of posterity. "I think that maybe I can see if there are any theater classes at the community center for her?"

Jack gave Rhys an incredulous sort of look and the younger mans' eyes widened as he faltered, "I...I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-" he started to babble.

Jack cut Rhys off with a kiss to the back of his wrist, "Sounds good to me, baby doll." he assured the younger man softly. "Of course we can have Angel put in an acting class, see if she likes it first and then..."

Jack turned to Rhys, frowned and pulled the younger man into his lap. Rhys pouted but allowed the manhandling with little fuss.

"I've told you before what a goddamn amazing person you are, right?" he asked seriously, "Because the way that you are with Angel? Cupcake, you're amazing with her."

Rhys opened his mouth to object – tell Jack that it wasn't like he had no reason to help out with Angel, or let the older man know that he was always happy to help care for Jacks' daughter and add in the fact that he absolutely adored Angel – but Jack was quick to continue littering the young man with praises and affection.

"You know I," Jack hesitated, "Um, I'm not good at all of this 'emotional' shit." he added, Jacks' thumbs circled against Rhys' collar bones as he spoke to his soul mate. "But… fuck, here goes."

Rhys was about to object when Jack continued on just as complimentary as before, "You are literally the most amazing person that I have ever met. You actually _give a shit_ about people, cupcake. You give a _damn_ without needing to be rewarded. You've been through hell but you don't let it bring you down – Rhysie, you are amazing. Just amazing."

Jack let out an 'ugh', "See what you do to me?" he asked jokingly, "You make me want to write...love poems and shit." he added, "It's gross how much I want you to be happy."

"Jack, I..." Rhys paused, unsure of what he could even say to that. So, instead of saying anything that might come off as impulsive and plain _stupid_ he pressed forward and kissed the corner of the older mans mouth.

"That was...sweet." he hummed, looking off to the side in his nervousness. "I don't really think I'm all that great but-"

Jack pressed a kiss to the younger mans temple, punctuating each word with another kiss to his cheek or temple as he spoke to Rhys, "You. Are. The. Most. Amazing. Person. I've. Ever. Laid. My. Eyes. On. Cupcake. Do. I. Seem. Like. I. Would. Bullshit. You?"

Jack pulled back and caught Rhys' wrist in his hand, "Do you think I would lie to you like that?"

Rhys supposed that that was true, Jack didn't really lie to him – save for that one gigantic lie, but Rhys found it a little more understandable than if it was about anything else.

"No?" Rhys answered questioningly, furrowing his brows in discontent as he squirmed on the older mans lap. "I guess you wouldn't lie to me about something like this."

Rhys smiled at him softly, his cheeks were tinged pink from all of the praise that Jack had bestowed upon him.

"We should probably go, Jack." he hummed as he tried to distract himself from all the warm, fuzzy feelings that he had. "If we're not down in thirty seconds I think Angels gonna throw a fit for ruining her chance at stardom."

Jack took Rhys' hand in his own as he led the younger man downstairs to face an impatient – ready to throw a fit – eight year old girl.

"Come on Angel, let's get goin'." Jack said in his own impatient tone. "You screamed at us enough." he murmured under his breath, causing Rhys to sharply jab him in the side with his elbow.

If Angel was put out by the snippy tone, she didn't show it as she squealed in glee and practically ran to Jacks car so they could get going quickly.

Rhys and Jack shared a look before trudging on to follow the excited girl.

* * *

Angels play had ended up being half of a disaster – one of the kids ended up throwing up on stage during a short monologue that was a part of her part. The vomiting ended up starting a mini hysteria among all of the parents and a few of the children.

The teachers in charge ended the whole thing – because there was really no other thing that could be done about it and Rhys was shocked that this sort of disaster would happen in the type of fancy private school that Angel was attending.

So, needless to say both Jack and Rhys were feeling awful for the little girl and the two of them had decided to treat Angel to dinner, ice cream and a movie – hopefully that might ease the blow of the probably traumatic humiliation that she had gone through that day.

They went to dinner and afterwards an ice cream parlor.

"What can I do for you three today?" The host asked of the three of them, giving Rhys a flirty smile as he spoke. Rhys flushed nervously and looked down,

Jack wrapped his arm around his soul mates waist, casually possessive as ever. "We'll be sitting while we eat." he stated in clipped tones, "You know, me, my daughter and my _boyfriend."_

The waiter spluttered, probably – definitely – not expecting that sort of reaction from the older man.

Rhys rolled his eyes and muttered, "You didn't have to act so jealous." to his soul mate.

Jack didn't say much else on the subject either than, "Yes. I did." in a triumphant tone that the younger man wished that he didn't find so charming.

They ate in relative silence until Jacks' phone practically blared, he decided to look at it against his better judgment. "Crap." he muttered before

Jack returned minutes later, looking mad as all hell, "Shit." he growled as he put his phone back and sat back down, "I gotta get you guys home."

"But it's so early." Rhys commented, confusion clear in his tone.

Angel looked at her father in agreement with Rhys. "What about the movie?" she asked, feeling as though she was about to be cheated out of something.

"There's something going on at Hyperion." Jack answered simply, with no indication that he might expand on that.

Rhys figured that if Jack had to leave in the middle of dinner that it was probably a top priority – like, nuclear airborne viruses being released to the public and society on the brink of extinction.

Okay, so maybe not _that_ high of a priority...but still, Rhys thought that it must have been something important so he decided to help stave off

"There's always an emergency…" Angel mumbled, pouting into her bowl of ice cream as she stirred the dessert in a lackadaisical fashion. "Stupid Hyperion."

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Jack apologized, sincere as he could be. "Those guys rely on me, y'know?"

Angel pouted at him, barely able to look him in the eyes as she said, "...I know. It's just not fair. You never see me _do_ anything! I bet Rhys had to remind you that I was doing a play today!"

To enunciate her point, she pointed to Rhys like he was exhibit A through Z and the young man spluttered and practically choked on his ice cream.

Jack didn't really know what to say – his daughter was incredibly intelligent and almost scarily keen and observant as to all of the things that people tried to hide from her so the worst part of this whole thing was just how right she was. "Angel I..."

"Well...why don't you and I," Rhys interjected, putting his hand over Angels' as he tried to calm her from her own upset feelings. "Go see that movie and then we can take a cab home. We could even check out that book store on main street?"

Angel beamed at that, she always enjoyed spending time with Rhys. "I...Okay, I'd like that. I really want my dad here but..." she shot Rhys an apologetic look, "That sounds nice."

Rhys nodded minutely as if to tell her that it was okay and looked over at Jack, who had a strange look of trepidation on his face.

Rhys looked over at his soul mate, "Is that alright with you, Jack?" he asked, looking at the man with his best pleading face.

"Uhhh…yeah, sure kiddo." Jack gave Rhys a look that suggested he might have been incredibly grateful to his soul mate for this. "You have enough cash for everything, right?"

"Oh, yeah. No, I got that card you gave me and I barely ever use it so..." Rhys clicked his tongue, "We should be fine?"

Jack grinned as Rhys worried his lower lip, he leaned forward to tuck a stray lock of hair behind the younger mans ear and said, "Alright, kitten. You two take care of each other."

At the very least, Jack made enough time for his two favorite people so that they could finish their ice cream before he bolted back to his company.

* * *

Thankfully the rest of the night held no such disasters, after the movie they ended up going to a cafe and getting hot chocolate before getting themselves practically a new library of books at their book shoppe.

"So how was everything?" He asked as the two of them stepped out of the cab, "No more disasters or disappointments, right?"

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I'm really excited for all the books that we ordered" She answered back sincerely, holding the one that she had decided to take with her. Then, seemingly out nowhere she frowned. "I'm sorry that I got so mad at you and dad."

"It's alright. I'm sure Jack would agree that neither of us took it personally. You had a bad day, Angel. It happens to everyone." Rhys dismissed easily, "I'm guessing that you're dad's probably not back yet-"

"You would be right." She interjected in a matter of fact tone.

Rhys snorted at that, "Okay, you're most likely right – so seeing as it's not a school night… why don't we watch a few movies together before we get to bed?"

Angel nodded at that, smiling a little more at that point. "Sounds like a lot of fun, Rhysie!" she exclaimed, bounding and pulling the lanky man into a hug. Rhys let out a surprised 'oof' as she practically slammed against him in her haste. "You're the best." she added sweetly.

Rhys smiled down at her in his surprise, "What's this all about?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Because I just want dad to marry you already so I can call you my dad!" She chirped in reply, "

"Is this some kind of conspiracy?" Rhys joked, "Cause I swear your dad said the same kind of thing to me today." he hummed in a tone of mock suspicion.

Rhys didn't exactly hear Angels reply as he looked somewhat away and locked eyes with someone that seemed coldly familiar to him. His body shook as he looked upon the figure, he swore that it was Frank.

The man – whoever he was – had the same build, the same height, the same tone of skin and the same death like aura surrounding the man. It truly gave him chills as he thought of all the implications of Frank being in the same town as he and his new family were.

Rhys wouldn't have worried so much, except for the fact that this was the second time he had seen that familiar face in the same day.

Earlier, as they walked to the movie theater and obscenely close to where they lived – both times seeing the same shadowy figure of a man who resembled his abuser frighteningly closely.

Both times, he had refused to let on that anything might have been wrong because he didn't want to worry Angel over anything – especially if it wasn't anything really there and Rhys was just being his same paranoid self.

Rhys swallowed down a lump in his throat as he looked wide eyed at the mysterious figure. He stared off for longer than he thought possible and was only snapped out of his haze by Angel putting forth all of her effort to get his attention.

He looked down at the girl, her worried expression did wonders to ground him. "Yes?" he croaked out to Angel, fighting back any sort of anxiety that he was feeling for her sake.

"Rhysie?" Angel tugged on Rhys' coat in worrysome matter. Her vibrant blue eyes squinted with concern as she spoke, "You don't look so good."

"Let's just get inside alright?" Rhys made a point not to let his panic and fear show with his tone, even as he urged her inside. "It's pretty late already, sweetie."

He held her hand as they walked in – more for his own sake then hers – smiling at the door man as they took the lift up to their home despite the fact was completely terrified at what he thought that he had seen and the implications of what that might bring.

Once the two of them were inside Rhys locked the door with the regular lock, the deadbolt and used the security system that Jack had just updated – he was usually so apt to forget these things, because the penthouse was so unlikely to be robbed but today he felt the need to be hyper-vigilant about it.

Was Frank stalking him? Was he waiting for the perfect moment, when Rhys felt safe and secure again, to destroy everything the young man had been working towards. His family, his social life, his sense of self would all go out the window if Frank broke in and raped him again.

What if he decided to hurt Angel? Rhys shook his head, trying to block the unwanted thoughts from his head.

He tried to himself that Frank hadn't started touching him until he was thirteen, so maybe he wouldn't think to touch Angel because she wasn't old enough or because she wasn't male.

So she probably wasn't his...type and he shuddered that he had to categorize it that way, but it was the only way he could think of it that made the least bit safer for her.

Even so, he still couldn't shake the worry that she might have to deal with the same feelings and trauma that he had grown up with and he would not wish that on his worst enemy.

"It's not him." Rhys repeated, trying to convince himself that he was still safe. "It's not him. It's. Not. Him." Rhys took to repeating the mantra until he could convince himself that he believed it to be true.

Because it had to be true, it just had to be.

* * *

Jack was incredibly exhausted and at least a little bit infuriated that he had to punch in the four digit code to get inside of his own home, almost forgot it and ended up using his hand print to override it in his frustration.

He walked into the penthouse, opting to check on Angel first. When he came into her room, Angel had a new stack of books by her side with one opened in her lap. She had been so enraptured that she hadn't even noticed her father until he regarded her.

"Hey baby girl." Jack hummed to her. "How ya doin'?"

"I'm alright." She responded, looking up from the book that she was reading. "Did everything turn out okay at work?"

"Yeah, of course." He replied, "Did you and Rhysie have fun?"

Her face lit up and she grinned just as brightly, "Yeah! The movie was kinda lame but afterwards we took a walk through the park and…oh." she frowned, like she had remembered something incredibly important."Rhys was acting sorta weird, I think you should go talk to him."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Weird like how?" He asked her, internally annoyed with the fact that his best source was his own eight year old daughter.

"He was acting kind of scared, it was weird because there wasn't anything scary that I could see." she answered sagely.

Jack nodded, having a feeling that this might have to do with something a bit beyond his daughters grasp, "I'll go see if he's alright."

"Rhysie!" Jack called repeatedly as he took to wandering around the penthouse in search of his fragile soul mate. He looked in all of the rooms and bathrooms before he decided to get some of his layers off before continuing on with his search.

He stepped into his walk in closet, "Oh hello." Jack murmured, almost to himself as he noticed Rhys curled up on the floor.

His soul mate was buried underneath just dried sweaters and shirts, he noticed to his own bemusement. Rhys had been curled up in whatever warmth and comfort that the young man could bring to himself – all those warm comfort things seemed to be Jacks' clothing – If the situation were a little less hellish it may have even been cute.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Jack asked, in vain because Rhys either didn't hear him or was purposefully ignoring him. He frowned and moved closer to the panicking young man with the hopes that he wouldn't end up spurring on even more fear in Rhys.

Rhys looked past him if anything, he shook his head with eyes rimmed red from crying so much and squeezed them shut. Rhys began to shuffle himself back, hitting the wall without so much as a noise of protest coming from him. It occurred to him then that Rhys might have been so out of it that he hadn't even notice that it

Jack moved onto his knees in front of the younger man, keeping enough distance between them so as to not panic his soul mate. "Rhysie," he tried in his best tone of gentleness. "C'mon, baby just look at me."

* * *

When Rhys was scared, he burrowed and hid himself somewhere deep and dark where he thought that no one could get to him and made himself small. This time he found himself burrowing deep in the walk in closet that he and Jack shared, he hid himself among a sea of Hyperion labeled sweaters and practically constructed a nest for himself to curl up in.

He stayed there, sniffling and sobbing with his hand stuffed into his own mouth to muffle the ugly noises that he was making.

He had been so anxious and panicked that Rhys hadn't realized that the person who came into the closet with him was Jack and instinctively moved further back into the space that he occupied in fear.

"Rhysie." Jack cooed to the younger man, barely catching Rhys' chin in his hand and tipping it upwards and towards him. "Baby, come on just look at me."

Jack spoke quieter to him than he had ever spoken to anyone in his life, trying his damnedest to be soothing and gentle while Rhys was panicking.

Rhys couldn't open his eyes, no matter how much Jack bade him to do so. He was so drowned in anxiety and heart clenching fear, that every calming and gentle word that Jack uttered sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away and underwater.

He couldn't comprehend much of anything for that matter.

"Babe, look at me." Jacks' voice came out tight and controlled as he spoke, trying not to startle his terrified soul mate. After a few moments of shivering terror, Rhys met his soul mates' gaze and Jack continued on speaking, "Now what's got you all worked up, honey?"

Rhys swallowed again, still teary eyed and barely not panicking. "I...I thought I saw Frank and – maybe it wasn't him but he looked so _similar_ and I was just-" Rhys broke off, feeling stupid, needy and paranoid all at the same time. "I'm sorry, it was probably nothing. ne-" Rhys hiccuped and sobbed, smiling awkwardly as he tried to brush it off. "Never mind?" he croaked.

Jack frowned at how timid Rhys was acting, this sort of thing had been restarting with his soul mate and it infuriated Jack that there wasn't much of anything to be done for Rhys now other than _be_ there.

He had never been great with emotions, he knew that much. What Rhys had been going was a little too heavy for him to emotionally handle but damn if he wasn't going to hold Rhys close and make him feel safe under any circumstances.

Even if he had to lie through his teeth to his emotionally fragile soul mate, he wouldn't allow Rhys to feel the sort of terror he was feeling if there was anything to be done about it.

After enough coaxing and petting, Rhys' sobs and hiccups began to slow and he felt himself becoming calmer and calmer in the older mans' grasp.

"How did you…" Rhys frowned trying to find the words, "How did you know I was in the closet?" he asked, feeling a little stupid and small as he spoke. "I don't..."

"Angel told me that 'you looked really scared', so I looked around for you for a bit and just," Jack sighed, "Found you on accident I guess." he admitted.

"Oh." Rhys exclaimed, feeling a little stupid for not thinking of that in the first place. "That's...kind of funny actually."

He felt a little more lucid now that his soul mate was there to comfort him.

"It's probably nothing." Rhys murmured in an attempt to placate his own anxiety. "I'm probably just overreacting."

"Maybe." Jack agreed as he kept petting at the young mans skin as he had no idea how Rhys' step-father would have the wherewithal to track Rhys down...but still, he would not think to put it past the man.

From all he had seen and heard – either from Rhys or what he had gleaned of the mans records and personal files that he could find – Frank was a slimy, disgusting person who had absolutely no sense of empathy or even a facsimile of it.

Jack killed people when he got stressed out and his sadism hadn't even gotten to the point that Franks had, Rhys' step father truly disgusted him and if he was a little bit less patient he would already be floating in the river or buried in a shallow.

"but if it is him," Jack murmured, barely audible to the young man practically cradled in his lap. "You can be sure that he won't live to regret trying to hurt you again."

Rhys felt a touch of regret – but just a touch – for finding that prospect to be ideal.


	9. Chapter 9

Rhys had been even more squirrelly than he had ever been before in the coming weeks since the day where he believed that he had seen his step father. It was strange to think that his pretty soul mate had been jumping at shadows just at the idea that he may or may not have seen him.

A lot of nights, Rhys would wake up gasping and crying from the after affects of a nightmare about his past or maybe even something concocted by his fears.

This had been one of those nights and Jack had woken up to his soul mate sobbing and rocking himself forwards and backwards as he muttered, "No, no, no" like a mantra.

"Rhysie?" Jack questioned, looking at the terrified look on his soul mates face. "What's wrong, pumpkin?"

Without even thinking, Rhys jumped into Jacks' arms and cuddled him close as he babbled anxious nonsense, more to himself than to Jack, about everything he thought had happened. The only thing that the younger man said that Jack could clearly make out was, "I, I th-thought you were dead."

Jack was actually taken aback by that, "What?" he questioned stupidly, "You thought I was dead?"

"Yes! I -" Rhys nuzzled further, "I thought that Frank killed you..." he whimpered, "He… in my dream… he…"

The younger man tried his best to put all of his thoughts into words, but found himself trailing off stupidly.

He couldn't come to terms with that reality, even though it wasn't a reality at all.

Even knowing it wasn't real, the grim remembrance of the dream kept playing on repeat in his head and he couldn't shake the terror that he felt when he dreamt of his soul mate being harmed by his step father.

"Me?" he joked weakly, "Nah, kitten. I'm not so easy to get rid of."

' _I'd love to see him try,'_ Jack thought, infuriated by the panic that his soul mate was in. No one was allowed to make Rhys feel like this – not even him.

Rhys either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him so he could keep cuddling against the older mans chest. He clung a lot, touching Jack in a way that almost seemed like he was doing it to make sure that Jack still existed.

That he was still real.

A little part of him – A part of himself that he wasn't proud to have, no matter how stubborn it was about sticking around – reveled in the way that Rhys jumped in his arms and clung to Jack for dear life and sobbed on his shoulder.

Most of him just wanted blood on the behalf of his soul mate – he wanted that asshole to suffer for as long as possible. He wanted to see Frank sobbing and pissing himself, petrified as Jack exacted his revenge on the man.

The only thing that held him back was his want to have Frank behind bars, being violated by hateful prisoners and stuck feeling the exact same fear that Rhys had been forced to suffer through his whole life. In Jacks' eyes, it was only fair and killing him would just be letting Frank off easy.

But if he found any concrete evidence that Frank had been stalking Rhys and his soul mate wasn't just jumping at shadows then that man would be dead.

Jack wouldn't even be hesitating to snap his neck if he knew that what Rhys had been thinking was true.

Rhys pulled back suddenly, looking terribly apologetic. "I, Jack, I am s-s-s-so s-sorry." he stuttered out between staccato sobs, "I d-d-didn't mean to w-wake you."

Jack tutted at the younger man and wrapped his arms around Rhys' waist before pulling him back into his lap. "Don't be sorry for having a nightmare, Rhysie." he scolded softly, "Tell me what happened, pumpkin."

Jack ran his fingers gently through his soul mates chestnut colored hair, cooing nonsense to the younger man as he did so until his sobs petered out into something less panicked and hysterical sounding.

Rhys sighed out shakily as he tried to calm himself enough to tell Jack everything that had happened, every single detail that had horrified him enough to have him panicking and practically on the verge of a heart attack.

The older man was incredibly patient with him, more patient than he would ever be with anyone who wasn't a part of his family. "It's okay," he assured, "Take your time, Rhysie just… tell me whenever you're ready."

"I...okay." The younger man muttered as he looked at his soul mate. "You were… well, _we_ were um- in bed together and..."

Jacks' face lit up as Rhys flushed, trying to skirt around the fact that he had had a sex dream about them last night. It was so cute. "Go on, kitten." he urged the younger man, "We were 'in bed' together and…?"

The younger man let out a tiny giggle despite himself, "We were… well we were, sleeping together and then," tears fell down Rhys' cheeks once more as he started to sob again. "Th-then it wasn't you. Then it was _him!"_

Jack stiffened as he heard that, he wanted this man dead for causing his soul mate so much emotional pain and it riled up his temper. Still, he did his best not to let it show and to comfort the young man in his arms.

"He was touching you?" Jack clarified, his tone was dark and deep and dangerous. "It wasn't me, so it was him and he was touching you."

Rhys nodded, "I, I kept calling for you." he insisted, "I kept saying 'what did you do with him?' because I knew that he did _something_ to you… h-he's evil, he would have killed me if he knew I told you about what he did _."_

His dream had felt so very real, to the point that he woke up feeling phantom pains from past assaults in his lower regions.

It occurred to Jack then that Rhys might not have been in the right state of mind to be thinking of this, he was already paranoid that his step father was following him, he didn't need to hash out any more painful details.

"You don't have to keep going." Jack murmured reassuringly, "You don't need to say anymore kitten."

Rhys shook his head no, because Jack was right. He didn't have to tell Jack the rest of his nightmare but at the same time he needed to. "Y-you were dead," he said with a blank tone. "He killed you and started r-raping me again." he flinched, "and again." he squeezed his eyes shut, "and again." clenched his fists at odd intervals, "and again."

The young man was truly broken up by the graphic imagery, but at the same time he was relieved that it wasn't real. It didn't make it less disturbing, but it became a little more livable to know that it was just a concoction of his imagination.

Jack wasn't going anywhere, he reminded himself. His soul mate was strong and if anyone would ever be able to handle Frank then it would be Jack Lawrence. He repeated it to himself while Jack held him, he kept reminding himself of it on repeat – Jack was safe, Angel was safe, he was safe, they were safe.

"Rhysie." Jack called, bringing Rhys back from his thoughts and grounding him back to reality. "I am not going to let that asshole touch you ever again. We live in a private building that only me and my high clearance employees are allowed to enter. Let's say Frank is following you-"

He regretted his choice of words when a tiny sob eked out of his soul mate, "He's not." he reminded gently, "But if he were he would never have a chance to get within ten feet of you. I have more security than anyone in the world would be able to breach and I can always get more."

Rhys blinked up at him blearily, thinking on how he must have looked so crazy and unstable to the older man. Jack wouldn't say it, but Rhys was sure that he was more trouble than he was worth. He probably begrudged the fact that he had to be paired with someone so _needy_ every single day of his life since they met.

"Thank you." Rhys hummed sweetly, "You're so good to me." he added sincerely, "I know I can be… a lot." he looked down at his legs crossed on the bed in his embarrassment.

If Jack hadn't been so concerned with his soul mate, then he might have corrected him with a bit more harshness. Instead, he took Rhys' hand, brought it to his lips and he gently kissed the younger mans' knuckles. He knew how much Rhys loved physical affection and he planned to give it to his fragile soul mate in droves.

Rhys gasped in surprise before he melted to the contact, "Jack…" he trailed off before crashing into the older mans chest. Jack laughed at the younger mans' clinginess as he nuzzled against him stubbornly, he stroked a hand down Rhys' back gently.

"You're not a lot." He corrected, "You're not a burden, kitten. You have no idea how much I need you, Rhys." he added patiently, "I. Love. You." he let a snarky grin cross his features, "Stupid." he added with a kiss to the younger mans forehead.

Despite himself, Rhys laughed. "I love you too." he said genuinely before getting up off of the bed and getting himself ready for the day.

* * *

With all the commotion that had been happening that week, Jack almost forgot his preparations for Rhys' nineteenth birthday.

'Almost' being the keyword, because Jack took great pride in having his soul mate feel cared for, happy and pampered. The only problem with that was that his soul mate was too stubborn and self punishing to allow himself to be properly spoiled.

So, naturally, Jack had to get a little more creative with his efforts. It definitely needed to be a surprise, he thought wisely. Especially with what he had planned, it was better if Rhys had no idea what was happening until he was there.

"Hey kiddo." Jack hummed to Angel as she poured over her homework, trying to get a little more done before she was taken to school. "How are ya?"

"I'm okay." Angel replied with a tired smile, "'M trying to finish up the rest of my homework before we go."

"Shouldn't you have gotten that done last night?"

"Well at least I'm getting it done!" she crossed her arms over her chest in an argumentative stance, "I could just decide not to do it!"

Jack shrugged at that, "Fair enough." he assented, "Just make sure that all that gets done, I don't want Rhysie stressing over your grades on his birthday."

"Rhysies birthday is coming up?" Angel perked up at that, "Is it a surprise?"

"Yeah, so we gotta keep it on the down low." Jack hummed sagely, "Do you want to help me set it up for him?"

Angel nodded perkily, "Of course!" She agreed. "I'll do whatever I can!"

"Okay good, So I'm gonna need you-" Jack cut himself off as he looked at his soul mate, who had approached with a cup of overly sweetened coffee for himself, "Rhysie." he added in a pleased tone as he looked at the cup of caffeinated liquid, "Did you make a whole pot or just enough for yourself?"

Rhys decidedly didn't answer Jacks question. "What are you two whispering about?" he questioned, looking at the two curiously.

"Nothin' that you need to be worrying about, kiddo." Jack assured, "Just going over a few things with Angel."

"Oh yeah?" Rhys retorted, narrowing his eyes at them suspiciously. "What kind of things?" he looked at Angel, "Angel, what's going on?"

Just as Angel was about to open her mouth – and possibly spoil the surprise while she was at it – Jack interrupted the scene fluidly, "Rhys. Babe. Honey. Kitten. Light of my fu-" he stopped himself as he looked at the disapproving face of his daughter, "freaking life, you don't need to be nosy-"

"I'm not being nosy!" Rhys protested, suddenly feeling very small and helpless in the way that Jack made him feel like on occasion – seemingly with just the aura that exuded from him. "I just, you guys are very clearly talking about me and I just want to know what you're saying."

Jack frowned as he looked at the younger man biting his lips and giving him the most convincing puppy dog eyes that he had ever seen. "Come here, pumpkin." he hummed and Rhys was barely in an arms grasp when Jack pulled the younger man into his lap and wrapped his arms around the slimmer waist.

"Brat." he murmured playfully before kissing the younger man on the lips – much to the disgust of his daughter, judging by her over exaggerated 'ews' and retching noises. He snorted as he pulled back and looked at her, "You're even worse." he said to her with a mockingly scolding tone.

"Will you please just tell me what you two were talking about?" Rhys questioned softly, not so much angry as confused – he had never liked being out of the loop, throughout his childhood it was one thing that always managed to drive him crazy and even as an adult he was no different when it came to this one thing.

"Mmm, nah." Jack replied after pretending to think about it. "It's a surprise." he added with another kiss to the side of his soul mates pretty face.

"Oh no." Rhys' eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "Jack I said I didn't want a big thing for my birthday."

"Yeah, and I said I'd think about it." The older man argued, his hands soothing up and down Rhys' lithe hips. "And I did think about it. But I still think that you need to be spoiled half to death, Rhysie – might do you a little good."

"You're still going through with this?" Rhys sighed out with exasperation, "I mean I already know why would you-"

"Hey, you don't know everything." Jack argued, "Any moment, a surprise party could be lurking around the corner."

"Sounds like my worst nightmare." Rhys joked as he leaned in to the older mans' chest. "I hate surprises."

He did indeed loathe surprises but he could tell that Jack really wanted to do this for him and he was hard pressed to deny the older man the chance to spoil him.

"I think you'll really like this one." Jack hummed with a kiss to his soul mates shoulder blade, "And if you don't then I'll never surprise you again. Maybe, I don't know, I might break that pormise. 

"Of course you would, Jack." Rhys replied with no small amount of fondness in his voice. "I'll… fine, whatever give me a surprise party." the younger man finally agreed, "But don't expect me to have the time of my life about it."

Jack chuckled at that, because he had a feeling that Rhys would love this surprise. No matter how blasé and put upon he was acting about it.

* * *

Rhys had been putting forth an enormous amount of effort not to jump at any shadows or cower in fear every time he heard a noise – because he knew how unrealistic it was of him to assume that his step father would have followed him across the country, let alone that he had stalked him for almost a year without Rhys noticing him.

Still, it felt so _real._ Like he knew that it was Frank that he had seen that night in his heart of hearts and although he knew that he was more than likely being paranoid – he couldn't rid himself of the dread that he was feeling.

Rhys shook his head nervously, he wanted these feelings gone. He wanted no more fear to permeate his senses and overtake all of his common sense and reason, he didn't want to be like this anymore – Rhys was so sure that he was done living in fear.

He was so sure that he wouldn't feel this way anymore – for almost an entire year, Frank had lost all of his control over Rhys. He was so sure that his step father wouldn't evoke so much fear in him but still he cowered in fear just at the shadow of him.

What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just let this be? What exactly about this encounter shook him so much that he couldn't bring himself to shrug it off.

If you asked Rhys, he would not be able to answer – because he wasn't entirely sure of why, himself.

Rhys was snapped out of his thoughts by someone touching his shoulder, he whipped around and readied himself to defend himself from an attack. He wilted almost immediately as he saw Vaughn holding his hands up in surrender.

"Vaughn..." Rhys breathed out in a shaky and frightened tone. "You, uh, you scared me."

"Hey man," Vaughn hummed, looking concerned and friendly all at the same time, "You coming?" he asked, hoping to snap Rhys out of whatever state that he had been put – or put himself – into.

Rhys looked at his friend with an almost shocked expression – all wide eyes and slightly parted lips – before remembering himself and answering the smaller male, "Yes, yeah of course." he babbled listlessly.

"You're sure?" Vaughn asked again, "You look pale." he added with a bit more outspoken concern laced in his tone.

"Oh...yeah, no, I'm fine." Rhys dismissed, "Just a little tired is all."

"If you say so," Vaughn hummed, "Let's get going. Otherwise, Gaige is gonna…well, you know."

Rhys giggled at that, "Yeah. I _know._ " he agreed, "She's _great."_

As he stood up and got his shoes on, Rhys made a point with himself to stop himself from listening to the warring dialogues in his head for the rest of the night.

He needed to enjoy himself and he was not going to allow this monster to control him anymore.

* * *

If Rhys had been frightened by his encounter – Jack had been _infuriated._

Just the idea – just the _thought_ of someone touching Rhys like he had been was enough to enrage him and throw him right over the edge.

But this? This was even worse, the idea that Rhys' step father had been stalking the two of them for whatever reason. It drove him crazy and he was glad that Rhys had gone out for the night and Angel had gone to a sleepover at another girls house.

He didn't want either of them to see him so uncontrolled and angry and not only that because he knew that he could be downright fearsome when he was angry enough – there was a chance that he might end up hurting Rhys or even Angel without even realizing it and that… was something that he could never live with himself if he had done it.

Still, Jack needed answers – his brain wouldn't shut up until he figured everything out.

After a while of thinking he decided to phone Hammerlock – if anyone would be able to figure out whether or not this man was an actual threat it would have to be her.

Jack was happy to find that the Baroness picked up on the second ring. "Hammerlock, listen I need a favor-"

"Jack, I had thought that we weren't on speaking terms anymore." The woman on the other line teased in her usual tone. "What do you need from me, darling?"

"Can you call and ask around about a Frank Shapiro?" he asked in a forcefully blasé tone because he had a feeling that she might sniff out what was really bothering him about this man if he didn't.

"Is this about that soul mate of yours?" The baroness responded in an amused tone, "The one that I haven't gotten the pleasure to meet yet?"

"Who told you about him?" Jack replied with thinly veiled suspicion.

"Nisha." She answered truthfully, "She was incredibly shocked about how… what was the phrasing that she used? Oh yes, 'annoyingly cute' that he was."

"I'm gonna kill her." Jack snapped, rolling his eyes in his aggravation.

"I'm more than a little offended that you didn't deem me fit to meet him." The Baroness said in an exaggerated tone meant to let him know that she was 'oh so very hurt'.

Jack wasn't buying it and that was putting it lightly.

"Look you're a little intense and-"

"That's implying that you are not?" She countered.

Jack groaned and muttered, "Fair point." underneath his breath before addressing her, "he spooks easily. I didn't want to scare him off by having him meet all the people I…" he trailed off, unsure of how to word the phrase. "Associate with."

"Cute." She replied, seemingly not so much annoyed anymore as she was amused. "What was the name? Frank?"

"Yeah," Jack agreed, "Frank Shapiro, he's from Sanctuary." he added, "I just want to make sure that he hasn't been in the city limits."

"I can handle that easily," Hammerlock agreed, "On one condition."

"I'm gonna regret this aren't I?" Jack muttered to himself before asking her, "What do you want?"

"I want to meet him." The Baroness stated her terms evenly, "He sounds absolutely precious and you know just how much I adore cute things."

"I know how much you like putting them on your wall." He quipped, "Like, stuffed and mounted."

"Those are my terms." She replied in clipped tones. "Accept them or not, I don't care – but I won't help you without incentive."

"Fine." Jack agreed after several moments of thoughtful silence. "But if you spook him, I'm sending the bill for all of the therapy to you."

"Charming." She hummed, "I'll get back to you shortly on this Frank man and I just cannot wait to meet your soul mate. I'm sure he's lovely."

* * *

Gaige and Vaughn had taken Rhys to a robotics festival – something that absolutely sparked his adoration for his two friends and a nerdy fan boyish excitement that he couldn't truly contain as he looked over all of the tech.

"Oh my god," Rhys cooed as he looked at the little robot. "It's a Gortys companion bot! Man these things are state of the art – with imprinting technology and… and… oh this is so cool!"

Just as Rhys was about to take ten of them Gaige interrupted the sale with a laugh, "Jack will straight up kill us if we bring Atlas tech back to his penthouse."

"But it's so cute!" he argued, "How could Jack hate anything so cute?"

"Whatever dude." Vaughn retorted, "I'm not gonna be complicit in this."

"Yeah, me either." Gaige agreed, "Meet us by the food court when you're ready." she added, "Oh. And bring snacks, please!"

Despite their wishes and maybe even his better judgment, Rhys got himself that Gortys bot. He figured that Jack wouldn't get as mad at him as he would have if it were anyone else.

He had been so excited that he hadn't noticed the woman walking near him until he hit her full force with his own body, both of their belongings flying places – Gortys flying into her hands, thankfully.

"Sorry!" Rhys babbled apologetically, "I uh, I didn't mean to bump into you."

"Don't worry about it." She said nonchalantly as she helped him up, "That's a cool lookin' robot." The red headed woman said, "Well, it's cute… but still."

Rhys smiled impishly at that. "Yeah, my uh, boyfriend payed for it." He giggled, "He doesn't know that yet, thought. Hope he doesn't get mad…"

"You've got a boyfriend?" The woman seemed like she was doing her best to seem surprised, but he didn't comment on it. "They have a name?"

"His name is Jack." Rhys allowed himself a small smile then, "He's so great. He treats me like I'm royalty or something like that, which is…a little overwhelming but still pretty great."

"Jack?" she narrowed her eyes, "His full name wouldn't happen to be Jack Lawrence, would it?"

"That's him, yeah." Rhys answered genially, figuring that she was probably Hyperion and may have seen him around Helios. A dreamy smile crossed his face as he thought of his soul mate. "Um, do you work for Hyperion? Because I'm pretty sure that Jack wouldn't like it if I was talking to someone from a rival company."

"You just let him order you around like that?" Lilith asked with incredulity – whether it was feigned or sincere Rhys could not be bothered to differentiate.

"I… don't know if I would word it like that?" Rhys responded, confused by her hostility towards his soul mate.

"Then how would you word it?"

The things that this woman was saying had Rhys feeling squirrelly, most people didn't like having their world view challenged and he was no different – he especially didn't enjoy having this conversation with someone that he didn't even know at a robotics fair where he was supposed to be having a good time exclusively.

"How would I word it?" he asked rhetorically, "I guess, I like to do nice things for people that I care about and I care about Jack a lot." he had already started to feel incredibly uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. "I'm sorry what's your name again?"

"Lilith." she answered him curtly, "If I could just ask you a few more questions-"

"I'm sorry," Rhys interrupted her, "I really am but I have to go."

Rhys turned away from the red haired woman and scooted off in a way that was not unlikea scared rabbit, because he was truly a little taken aback by the encounter itself.

He wandered around the fair grounds for a bit, not at all ready to come back to his friends as he was still feeling a little bit out of sorts. Probably not a good idea, considering how he had been feeling but he still would rather face whatever real or imagined thing that he was fearful of than try to explain the bizarre encounter.

When he came back to his waiting friends – he saw only Gaige, looking at him with a strange and indiscernible expression.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, feeling a little defensive of himself although he knew that he didn't actually do anything wrong.

"You took forever." Gaige said, looking more than a little miffed by the sour expression on Rhys' face. The younger man didn't look so much upset as he did confused and turned towards her with an equally quizzical tone. "What was the wait all about?"

"I ran into some woman while I was walking to the concession stands." Rhys replied in a dazed and sleepy tone. "It was pretty weird so I didn't manage to get the snacks, I'm sorry about that."

"What sort of woman?"

"I think she was a reporter?" he replied, "she was asking me questions about Jack and…" he blinked a few times, "I don't know, I got uncomfortable all of the sudden so I ran off."

"Why would a reporter be asking you about Jack?" Gaige replied with equal dumbfoundedness. "I mean…he gets some media coverage but they would be more likely to ask him about you."

"She didn't seem to like him much." The young man replied, furrowing his brows in his contemplation.

Gaige looked at him evenly, "Was her name Lilith?" she asked with uncharacteristic calmness.

"Yeah, that was it."

Gaige groaned and sighed all at the same time, "He's gonna kill me!" she shouted, throwing her arms up in her exasperation. "Of all the people to run into you… and he's gonna blame me, which is, really not fair at all!" 

"Gaige, are you alright?" Rhys asked cautiously, with a tone of voice that sounded like he was worried that she might need to be sedated in the next few minutes.

Gaige looked at him, "Okay we should go find Vaughn first, then we can talk about this all together." she promised.

They ended up gathering their number savvy friend quickly and it took only a little bit longer to find a quiet place for them to talk about everything that had happened.

"So who is this Lilith?" Rhys asked, "I mean you acted like Jack would know her and get… angry about her talking to me."

"He wouldn't get mad, at least I don't think so."

"Then what's the problem?"

"She hates Jack." Gaige responded evenly. "I dunno, she thinks that he killed her boyfriend or something like that."

The Mech-Romancer didn't seem all that convinced that that was something Jack would do either way.

"Huh," Was all Rhys could really say, he made a mental note to himself to ask Jack if he had ever killed someone named Roland or if the woman was just deluded – having no idea how correct she really was, just not in the way that she would have thought.

Strangely enough the idea that it might have been just this woman eased him – just slightly so, because there were even more ramifications to someone like her following them.

He wondered whether or not it would be a good idea to tell Jack about her following him – because it could go either way, both outcomes in opposite extremes.

On the one hand, if he told Jack then his soul mate might be able to rest a little easier knowing that it wasn't about _him_ but about Jack – given who has soul mate was and what he was prone to do whenever he felt like he was backed into a corner, he figured that Jack would take care of it promptly.

On the other hand – whatever Jack decided to do about it might end up with him acting rashly about it and possibly even getting caught.

That was something that he would never, ever want to deal with – he could barely go a week without seeing his soul mate before he was a whining, babbling, codependent mess.

In the end, Rhys opted to tell Jack if he ever saw her again and decided that her meddling had gotten to the point that it was dangerous for the two of them.

When and if that day ever came, he would tell Jack and let all the cards fall where they may.


	10. Chapter 10

Rhys wasn't given a chance to even see Jack until the next morning and by that time, he had been too busy doing other things to think to mention the strange encounter with Lilith. He didn't think that he had any need to mention it unless it happened again, anyways.

It hadn't been all that frightening, when it came down to it – it was just that it had been a little alarming and more than a little confusing.

Though now, the feeling that he felt more than anything else was pure unsolicited relief.

Which was definitely strange and not something that he felt alright explaining to Jack or even any of his friends because he just knew that they wouldn't be able to understand how much his fear had lowered and slowed down to a halt when he realized that it may have just been someone like her following him instead of who he had dreaded it being.

Rhys knew that she wouldn't attack him and she definitely wouldn't kidnap him or rape him, worst case scenario she'd be an annoyance to Jack for a while – but she wouldn't physically hurt them because she wouldn't get the chance to.

He looked over at his soul mate with a smile, ready to kiss him and sing his praises when he noticed the _odd_ look that Jack was giving him. It was weird to Rhys and he couldn't help but comment on it.

"What?" He asked through sips of his coffee, "Why're you giving me that look?" he added, wondering if he had something on his face or if he had accidentally done something to offend the older man without even realizing it.

"Seriously pumpkin?" Jack groaned out loud as he gave Rhys a dumbfounded and almost disappointed look, " _Atlas?"_

With relief visible in his face, Rhys just giggled in reply. "but she's so cute!" he defended himself weakly, "Come on Jack, I couldn't go home without her."

"Her?" Jack asked dubiously in reply.

"Yeah, Gortys told me, herself, that she is a she." Rhys gushed, "She's sentient, Jack! And, and, and she's developed with imprinting software and emotions, and…so many options!"

Jack was impressed by that despite himself – a robot with a self creating personality was kind of fascinating and definitely more advanced than he would have given credit to Atlas for.

If Angel and Rhys weren't already so attached to thing, then Jack would have snatched it up and rooted through it's wiring so he could figure out its secrets.

Plus, he knew that he couldn't really help but give Rhys everything that he wanted. He also knew that the only option that Hyperion had for companion bots were the CL4P-TP units and… he was not dealing with that at home, he had enough of them on Helios.

He had been trying to get rid of the annoying robots since they came out but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't escape them – they were the bane of his fucking existence. So the choice was a little easier than he would let on to Rhys or Angel.

"You can keep the little robot, just…" Jack groaned, "Don't bring it, or her I guess, around Helios. I still got a reputation to uphold, sweet heart." he said, "Can't have anyone knowing that I use any Atlas tech or I'll get fucked over on my own company policies."

"Of course." Rhys agreed, amenable as always. "Maybe she could walk Angel to school…"

Jack arched a brow at that and it urged the younger man to continue, "Well, she's been complaining that she's old enough to walk to school on her own. I don't exactly feel comfortable with her walking all that way and I know it's really not far but…"

Rhys faltered slightly, "I don't know, maybe I'm just being overbearing and silly but it's just that there are so many bad people out there and she's so trusting…but maybe with someone or something that isn't either of us escorting her to school… it could be a good compromise."

"Can uh, shit." Jack gave a short laugh as he spoke. "What's it name, again?"

"Gortys." Rhys supplied quickly, anxiously darting his eyes from his soul mate to his cup of lukewarm coffee. He was always nervous bringing up any suggestions on raising Angel, like Jack might get so offended at what he said that he would throw Rhys out of his home and he would spend the rest of his days starving and homeless.

It was totally baseless and irrational, but the thought went through his every single time that he opened his mouth about the goings on of his soul mates daughter.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, can _Gortys_ keep Angel safe?" Jack asked, looking directly at the bottom line of the whole situation.

"I, I'm not sure." Rhys admitted, "There's a lot of options that I haven't gone through but you can take a look of course. I just thought that I'd put it out there for you."

Jack made a thoughtful noise, "Look, if it doesn't it's not a problem, I can hack it," he said and upon the mortified look on Rhys' face, "Remotely, I don't need to open something up to alter it. I won't kill your friggin' robot." he added in a begrudging tone, with a look of feigned annoyance on his face.

After a moment, he grinned maliciously and joked, "It would have been a lot of fun, though. You have no idea how much I love tearing up the wires of Atlas machinery and putting it back together. Or not."

"You're evil." Rhys replied with an exaggerated pout. "How could you do that to anything so cute?"

The older man chuckled and reached forward to give Rhys a gentle kiss, "Aw, don't worry kitten. I would never try to open you up and cross all your wires."

Before Jack could open his mouth and say something else sarcastic, Rhys beat him to the punch by saying, "I think you've already done that a few times to me, Jack." in a very serious and reminding tone. He even managed to keep a straight face for a full two minutes before he burst out into a fit of giggles.

Jack responded to that by taking a hold of Rhys' hand and kissing the pulse point of the younger mans' wrist a few times, each bit of contact made Rhys flutter a bit in his chest.

His face lit up at the affection and he smiled at Jack, biting his lip to stifle any more of his giggles as he did so. The two of them sat in comfortable silence – it was nice, when you felt so content with someone that you could just take a few relaxing moments where you both could just shut the hell up and enjoy the moment together.

"Pumpkin, do you know what day it is?" He asked, breaking the quiet seemingly out of nowhere. Rhys took a moment to process the question before he actually answered him.

"Saturday, I think." Rhys answered, "Why do you ask?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

Jacks' schedule was sporadic at best, he had meetings pretty much every day and he popped in and out of Helios about four times a day. In any case, Rhys was surprised that Jack wouldn't know and even if he didn't that he had to ask him to clarify it.

Jack grinned at Rhys then, quick to butter the younger man up for meeting Lady Hammerlock. "I think we should go out somewhere tonight." he said, "Just you and me, Rhysie. Anywhere you want."

"Oh! Can we please go to that little Italian place with the gelato bar again?" Rhys babbled excitedly, holding his hands in a prayer formation as he asked. "I've never seen so much fancy ice cream in one place before." he gushed, "I mean there was other great stuff there too, but…"

"Got it. I'll get us a seat there tonight." Jack promised as he moved to tuck a stray lock of hair behind his soul mates ear. "Oh, shit one more thing." he said in a very forced casual tone. "I want you to meet someone, a friend of mine."

"Yeah?" Rhys queried, looking at the older man with an amused gaze. "Is it another one of your ex girl friends?"

Jack laughed at that, like it was one of the funniest things that he had ever heard in his life. "Jesus, god, no!" he said, after his laughter had died down. "Hammerlock is just a friend. Resourceful lady but… ya know, we're not really each others' types." he assured the younger man easily. "Plus, she's like… part of the friggin' British nobility and you know that that's not really my scene…even if I was into her."

Rhys giggled, "Well, that's a relief." He faintly remembered Jack mentioning her in the past, around the time they had first met. "I dunno if I could deal with anymore exes."

"So what do you say pumpkin?" The older man asked, sizing Rhys up as he spoke. "Should I let her know to make plans?"

Rhys let out a tiny sigh, more out of relief than anything else. "Sure. I'd love to meet a baroness." he answered quickly. "She's not going to judge me if I don't know which fork to use or don't know… like, what an aria is, right?"

Jack laughed at that and shook his head, "What the fuck is an aria pumpkin?" he asked between chuckles.

Rhys shrugged and pulled a face, "It's not like I have no reason to be nervous about all this." he quickly defended, "She's an aristocrat. It's pretty intimidating."

* * *

It wasn't a secret to either of them that Jack truly loved taking Rhys out to fancy places and showing him off or showing him off anywhere really.

He liked to let the entire world know that he had someone that he could love and care for, someone that was made for him by whatever benevolent force that had decided that he deserved to have someone as sweet as Rhys curled up in his arms every night.

It scared him a little bit too, because he had never factored a soul mate into any of his plans. He hadn't factored in Angel before he had her either, but that was a little bit easier.

On the very, very, _very_ unlikely event that Jack couldn't take care of Angel – for whatever reason – he had at least ten potential families that his daughter could go to. People he trusted to be good to her and a trust fund large enough to set her up for life.

But Rhys? He had no idea what would happen to the younger man if he were to be arrested – financially, he would be secure.

But what he would to Rhys emotionally? He might end up breaking the kid and that wasn't something that he would ever want to do him because his soul mate had already been put through enough disappointment and abuse for a lifetime.

It was a long shot that he would actually get caught, truthfully. Most of his kills hadn't even been found and he moved all over the country. Unless he got some made for TV FBI agent that had a hard on for seeing him behind bars, he doubted that he would ever face any consequences for all the things that he did.

Still, Jack found himself doing things like this for Rhys more and more often. Spoiling the hell out of his soul mate and "surprising" him at least twice a week, he was making up for something that might not ever even happen.

"This place is kinda ritzy, huh?" Rhys commented out loud, "You didn't want to go to the Italian place?" he asked, looking at the older man curiously.

"I thought you might want try some french tonight." Jack hummed in reply, bracing his hands around Rhys' shoulders. "I uh, should have told you, Rhysie. My bad. Buuuuuut, I think you'll like the food here." he leaned in close enough so that he could whisper in Rhys' ear. "I got us a private booth."

" _Private_ booth? L-like private, like…?" Rhys giggled nervously at that as he took to stammering like a complete idiot at the implication, "J-jack I don't… why would we need a private booth?"

After a moment of shocked silence, the older man snorted with amusement. "Not like that, kiddo, fuck… you know, you're great at making me feel like a fucking pervert."

"I'm sorry…" Rhys blushed, "If it makes you feel any better… I, I don't think that – well, if you had asked I don't think that I'd be _opposed…"_

"That's cute, Rhysie." Jack murmured, taking the younger mans' face in his hand and giving his knuckles a sweet and chaste kiss. "Maybe some other time, huh." he added with a snicker.

It wasn't long after that that they were led to their private booth, the hostess gleefully lead them there while she gushed about the food and service in a bubbly tone before letting them know that their waiter would be there in a few moments.

"So what do you think?" Jack asked, after Rhys had sat down comfortably in the plush seat across from the older man.

"Well, it's…" Rhys trailed off as their waiter came to them – in pretty much record time, Rhys was sure that was a good sign – and set down menus for them.

"May I take your orders, sirs?" The waiter asked, looking at the two of them with a patient glance. "Or just something to drink?"

"Oh, um…" Rhys looked at Jack helplessly and thankfully his soul mate got the message and covered Rhys' hand with his own in a reassuring manner as he ordered for the two of them, the younger mans' face lit up at the faint, almost secret glow.

Like it was reassuring him of how real this all still was. Like the universe was telling him, ' _yup, you still got a soul mate, don't worry kid. No take backs. Forever and always. Ride or die. In sickness and in health._ _For – fucking – ever._ _'_

"Thank you." he said when the waiter left the two of them, "I felt weird. With the whole…" he trailed off into a giggle, "You know, the…I'm still not used to going places like this." he admitted, "it's all just so, I don't know I feel like I'm always out of my element and I'm pretty sure the waiter was judging me." he grabbed a roll of the complimentary bread and picked at it listlessly as he continued on speaking.

"Like, 'he can't even order for himself! He doesn't belong even here. What's he doing here? Is he a hooker? I think that he's a hooker. Let's call security right now!'… or something like that." he joked, trying to make himself feel a little less like a socially inept idiot.

"Yeah, no, Rhysie I'm pretty sure the waiter was judging _me."_ Jack replied back snarkily, "Whatever. Dudes' probably just jealous of me and my mega hot boyfriend who, by the way, is classy as shit."

"No." Rhys said, looking at the older man with mischievous eyes. "I'm pretty sure that he was jealous of _me_ and my super hot CEO boyfriend."

"And your legs." Jack pointed out, motioning towards the younger mans' legs with his eyes. "Cause, let me tell ya, I am totally jealous of those pretty stilts of yours."

Rhys giggled, "And my legs." he parroted in agreement and bumped his knee against the older mans' playfully. "Thanks, you always know what to say." he looked down, suddenly feeling very guilty about keeping something secret from Jack. The urge to tell the man was overpowering his critical thinking skills and it was hard for him not to just blurt all the words out in one breath.

One of the older mans' hands rested on Rhys' knee and squeezed it gently. "Somethin' wrong, Rhysie?" he asked, "You look, shit I don't know… pensive? You got something to tell me?"

"No… well, yes? The thing is that I'm not exactly sure if I should right now." Rhys admitted, darting his eyes around nervously. "I really like how everything's going tonight."

"Did you… kill anyone?" Jack asked, looking at Rhys in a way that said 'this is pretty close to home so it's probably the best place to start'

"No…"

"Are we in millions of dollars of credit card debt? Yeeeeah, I bet it's that, your ice cream fetish is outta hand."

"No!" Rhys giggled stupidly, "Jesus, of course not!"

"Are you sleeping with someone else?" He tried then, laughing a bit.

Rhys looked at Jack with total mortification, like he was amazed that that thought had even come to mind when he thought of Rhys.

"No, no, no… god, it's nothing like that." Rhys dismissed the older man quickly. "It's… when we all went to the robotics festival I…" he blinked, "Never mind, I don't actually want to talk about this right now." he said, shaking his head a bit as he spoke. "I'm sorry for wasting your time."

At first, Rhys had thought that Jack might respond with annoyance or even anger but he hadn't expected the chuckles that emitted from the older man that evolved into full body, hysterical laughter.

It annoyed Rhys more than he was proud of, "What?" he snapped, "Why are you laughing?"

"I was just-" Jack laughed loudly, interrupting himself and earning more than a few judging looks from the other people eating at the restaurant. "I was just thinking about the concept of you being a cheater or a murderer or a thief."

"It's that funny?" He asked with incredulity heavy in his tone and expression. He crossed his arms over his chest as Jack nodded, the older mans' laughter subsiding slightly. "You don't think I could have a dark side?"

"No offense, cupcake but…" Jack shook his head slightly, giving the younger man a very obvious very exaggerated once over. "You're too cute to have that much of a dark side, babe. Just not your style."

Rhys narrowed his eyes in offense and leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest petulantly. "Rude." he said in a blasé tone, "I could totally be evil." he added in protest.

"Nooooo. No, Rhysie, no… you really couldn't." The older man said, shaking his head in a dismissive manner. "But that's alright, you know?" he reassured, "Cause you're just perfect the way that you are. Cute, sweet, smart as hell and just the right amount of cunning." Jack pretended to think for a minute before he added, "Oh right and you're super hot too." like it was an afterthought.

Rhys wrinkled his nose at that, truthfully unsure if he should be offended or flattered by the sentiment of it. "Thank you?" he said, looking at his soul mate with an odd expression. An expression that was somewhere in the middle field between adoration and bemusement – a strange combination but he couldn't bring himself to mind the dichotomy nonetheless.

Their food came soon after that and Rhys was delighted to see that the meals that they were given were not overly decadent and pretentious but instead looked like two servings of a simple roast. The only thing not simple looking was a cup of hot chocolate places on his side. He smiled at the pretty mug topped with sky high whipped cream. "French hot chocolate?" he quipped, "You know me so well."

"Yeah, well that's not much of a compliment looking at the dent in my bank account from all your visits to that ice creamery." the older man joked as Rhys took a sip of the overly sweet liquid. It was rich enough that he doubted that he would be able to even halfway finish the mug and he preened in delight at the taste. "It's really good," he complimented. "Thank you."

Jack chuckled and moved in a little closer to the younger man, "Here," he mumbled as he leaned in close, "You got a little…" he murmured even quieter before he kissed the corner of Rhys' mouth.

"Whipped cream?" Rhys replied, wrinkling his nose a little before he let out a small giggle. The older man nodded and he quipped, "How nice of you."

They ate in relative silence, enjoying the food as well as the ambiance of the restaurant as they did so.

The two of them felt comfortable and contented by everything around them as they finished their meals. It wasn't until someone brought them their checks that Rhys noticed a slight change in the atmosphere.

"Jack." he adressed the older man, gently shaking Jacks' shoulder so as to draw attention to him, "I think that someone's coming towards us." he added as he pointed towards the mysterious figure.

"What?" he said, looking in the direction that Rhys was pointing. He almost immediately deflated. "Shit." Jack blurted out loud.

Jack really didn't want to deal with Aurelia Hammerlock today. She was an ally, a benefactor and someone that he owed at least some of his quick rise to success to but today all he wanted was to spend quality time with his soul mate. He hadn't planned on dealing with anymore of his friends of allies today and he certainly hadn't expected to see Hammerlock before he told her what had happened with Rhys.

"Hello, Jack!" Lady Hammerlock chirped as she came towards them, "I didn't think that you were the type to come to establishments such as this." she added in a tone that almost seemed suspicious to Rhys as he curled up against the older man.

Jack just groaned wordlessly, pinching the bridge of his nose before he looked at the woman approaching them. "What's up Hammerlock?" he greeted in a tone that already seemed annoyed with the way that the environment of the room had changed so quickly.

Taking one good look at the woman, Rhys quickly realized that he had been correct in his assumption that Lady Hammerlock would cut an intimidating figure. She was tall – a little taller than him – with dark skin, impossibly well coiffed salt and pepper hair and a sneer that seemed like it was more comfortable for her to hold than a smile.

"I was just passing through," The Baroness replied, "Then I heard that _you_ were here with someone half your age and made a grand old scene about getting a private booth. I come here on occasions, though I find the atmosphere dreadfully gauche."

Jack looked at Aurelia Hammerlock with a straight glance, "Is that right?" he grumbled before, gesturing to the young man at his right. "I wanted to have a night out with Rhysie here," he gave Rhys a fond look as he spoke, "He does so much for everyone around him that sometimes I just gotta spoil him a little."

Rhys pretended not to notice that Jack wrapped an arm around him in a possessive and protective manner as he continued speaking to the woman standing in front of them, "But we do like privacy so…"

His attempt at dismissing the Baroness fell flat and she pressed a little further, "Well, why don't I have a chat with him right now?" Aurelia asked, "We are, after all, together right here and I'm really, very eager to meet him."

"I thought I told you that I'd let you know." Jack spoke with a tight lipped smile, fury dancing in his eyes as he did so. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I told you I needed to talk with Rhys about it first."

Looking at the older man, Rhys could see that Jack was barely holding himself back from screaming at the heiress and the consequences of that worried him more than a little bit. He was torn between ducking his head from the crossfire, making up some sort of excuse to get them out of there and allowing everything just to run its course.

"Why don't I ask him right now?" Lady Hammerlock suggested, looking towards Rhys with curiosity. The amber haired male had been a hair short of hiding away from her while Jack and her argued in tones filled heavily with passive aggression.

"Would you be alright having a conversation with me alone?" she asked Rhys directly and she didn't seem as frightening just then, but he was still wary of unfamiliar people and it showed as he fought himself to smile at her and speak in a polite sort of way to the Baroness.

"Me?" Rhys pointed at himself stupidly as he spoke. "Why would you want to talk to me? Especially alone. I mean I'm no one special or anything…" he chuckled nervously, trying to deflect the attention away from him. If he wanted to hide just a little bit more, he would be crawling under the table and running out of the restaurant wildly – probably ending the day with both him and Jack being forced never to return to that restaurant for as long as they lived.

"Well, you _are_ Jacks' soul mate." She pointed out simply, before giving Jack – who was clutching Rhys protectively – a very pointed look, "And I know how he can be." she said, "I just want to know how you are when he's not hovering over you."

"Oh, he's not hovering." Rhys defended the older man quickly, "He's just really protective over me. He cares about me and that's so nice, so different. Especially when you think about how I…" he trailed off in his ramblings and looked at Jack curiously.

"Are you okay if I go and talk with her?" he asked, "I don't want to do anything that would really bother you."

He studied Rhys' face for any sort of hesitation and to see if the younger man was trying to hint to him to get him out of this. "Sure thing, Rhysie." He assured, once he noticed the genuineness on his soul mates face. "Try to be back before they bring the dessert out, alright?"

They walked off to have a private talk with each other, leaving Jack to think about how he just gave his soul mate the green light to talk smack about him with his benefactor. The whole situation was so ludicrous that all he could do about it was laugh.

* * *

Seeing Lady Hammerlock before Jack had had the time to properly prepare himself mentally and give Rhys enough time to compose himself of all the anxieties that he had been feeling had been just about as shocking as a shot to the face but the two of them made do.

He had wondered exactly what Aurelia had to say to Rhys but he figured that it wasn't all that important – the thing that actually worried him was the nervous way that his soul mate had been acting all night. Jack could tell that Rhys wanted to tell him something but for some reason, every time that Rhys almost got the courage to say something in the next moment the young man would be stopping himself.

"Hey." The older man murmured, snapping Rhys out of his maladaptive thoughts. Rhys gave a quick start before he answered his soul mate with an unsure, "Yes?"

"Something wrong?" Jack queried, "You zoned out for a bit and you look a little green."

"I…I'm fine." He mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and rubbing his arms up and down in a fidgety display.

"Rhys, come on just tell me what's been going on." Jack muttered, "You've been acting squirelly all night and I can tell when you're lying."

Rhys was alarmed at the use of his actual name and it only made his need to squash the impending argument all the more important to him.

"Nothing, it's totally… nothing." The young man dismissed quickly, waving his hands frantically to enunciate that there was nothing to be seen here and that the two of them should move along with their day and ignore everything else.

Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the younger man, "… alright." he said, deciding to let it go for the moment.

"So, Lady Hammerlocks' really pushy, huh?" Rhys blurted out, desperate to change the subject and ease some of the tension that – he felt – was going on between the two of them.

Thankfully, Jack took the bait and snickered in kind, "Yeah, she's pretty intense. A little crazy too, in that _'Downton Abbey'_ posh kind of way."

The younger man let out a soft chuckle at that, "Yeah, like she'd poison the sugar in your tea as soon as look at you." he chirped in reply. "I can see why you two are friends." he added in a soft but cheeky tone.

Jack responded to that by flicking the younger man rudely on the forehead, "Rude." he said before leaning in to whisper, "I'll have you know I don't use poison."

Rhys looked at him with wide, somewhat frightened eyes before he managed to compose himself and smile at the older man with at least a little sincerity. "I guess you don't." He mumbled back with a bit of a tremor in his voice. The fact that his soul mate was a serial killer had alarmed him when he found out about it and it still frightened him even now.

It wasn't as if he thought that what Jack did was excusable at all, it was just that he loved Jack more than his soul mates actions frightened him. Simple as that.

Though, no matter how much Rhys loved Jack, his devotion didn't deter him from recoiling anytime that the older man ever brought murder and violence up.

Rhys clung to the older man, wrapping his arms around Jacks' forearm and burying his face against the older man as he spoke. "Can we go home?" he asked with his voice in a quite murmur. "I've had enough action for one day."

Jack smirked at that, "Alright, Rhysie. We can get home." he agreed in an almost jovial tone. He chuckled at the way that Rhys cuddled up on him, "Jeez, what a leech." he quipped before kissing the top of his soul mates head.

Rhys clung to him even further as Jack got his car from the valet and only separated from the older man when the two of them had to get in their car.

* * *

It wasn't until the two of them had gotten home, checked on Angel sound asleep in her bed and settled down for the night to watch something on Netflix that Jack realized that he was feeling something. A prickly, tingly sort of feeling that felt like it burnt the hairs on his skin clean off.

A few moments after that he realized that what he had been feeling was a solidified urge. The worst thing about these urges is that they wouldn't generally build or give him time to think about what he was going to do about it.

Jack loved killing, but the need to do it overwhelmed him sometimes, it was all consuming . He just needed to do it – and now. He needed to kill something – someone – fast.

Jack coughed awkwardly, "Hey, kitten want me to make you something to drink?" he asked of the slighter male with a tinge of discomfort present in his tone.

"Sure! Can you make me some of that Passion Fruit but mix it with the Chamomile?" he asked, "Oh, and add a lot of sugar… like usual."

Jack took that as an opportunity to kiss Rhys on the top of his head, "Sure thing, sugar." he hummed, before getting up and making his way to the kitchen to make Rhys the drink he asked for, with something else in it to help the younger man be put in a deep sleep for the night.

Jack was definitely thankful that Rhys was to out of it – and too trusting at that – to notice the slight difference in taste, or even how drowsy it made him just moments after he finished the cup. When Rhys was fast asleep, the older man was quick to scoop up his slumbering soul mate and lay him down on the silk sheets of their bed.

He worked quickly and quietly to get himself ready for a trip out of town, ready to quell the insatiable urge that he had to destroy someone from the inside out and watch the light go out of their eyes.

* * *

Even though Jack hadn't stopped his killing – or even slowed it down – he made it a point these days not to kill people that were innocent, or at the very least he made it a point to go after criminals and the type of people that his soul mate wouldn't actively disapprove of.

He also tried to stay closer, because Rhys knew exactly what the undertones of Jack going on a "Road Trip" or a "Business Trip" so it was a little bit more difficult for him to do without feeling what he thought might have been guilt when he saw the heartbroken look in the pretty young mans' eyes.

It wasn't hard at all to do – the smaller, more rural communities surrounding Opportunity had a high enough level of crime that he could easily find someone trying to rob a house or hurt someone within a few hours of arriving in a spot.

Jacks' victim of the day came in the form of a weedy looking junkie trying to break into his caravan, he smirked and took the man down with a lot more ease than he was used to. The jaundice like skin cracked easily and he made a note to himself to watch out not to bleed the man out as he wrestled him into his caravan and smacked his head enough times that the man passed out.

Once he bound his victim securely with hand cuffs and wire rope, he moved back to put his car on auto drive. He set out all of his tools, put on a protective apron so that no blood splatter got all over his favorite clothes, then he waited with – semi – patience for his victim to awake.

"Finally!" Jack exclaimed as the bound man woke up, "Thought I might'a killed you before the fun started and that doesn't work for me."

As the victim became more and more lucid, he thrashed around more. Jack watched the man tire himself out with heavy amusement. "Are you done?" he asked once the man became still, his chest heaving up and down with labor to breath. "Or do you want to try to scream for help? It wouldn't work, but… ya know, it's pretty funny watching you lowlifes squirm."

The man started to sob, like he was trying to evoke pity from Jack – Yeah, uh not happening, kudos for trying though – but all he got in return was an unimpressed stare and more crude remarks.

"Let's be real here, kiddo." Jack said, looking at the drugged man with a disgusted sneer on his face as he pulled on his latex gloves with a painstakingly slow pace. "You did a lot, and I mean _a lot_ of bad stuff." he added and then took to listing off the mans' crimes with a sadistic sort of pleasure. "Let's see… breaking and entering, possession, trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon and…" Jack smiled grimly, "rape."

The man pulled a disgusted and surprised face as Jack listed off all of his crimes, almost like he was trying to ask how Jack would have figured all of that out about him in the first place and Jack – being the smug and talkative murderer that he was – elected to fill him in.

"If you're wondering how I happen to know all of this – which you are, I can tell – I got it all from the local arrest reports." Jack said, with a bored tone. "It's public record, dum dum. Aaaaaaanyways, I saw you trying to steal that nice ass car and I thought, 'Jack pot! Easy kill.' you know? But then I looked up your name from your ID and I found a fucking shitty gold mine."

He clapped his hands together with overt loudness. "Let's get this show on the road, because it's…" he trailed off and took a moment to look at his pocket watch. "Nine fifty-three, I gotta be back in a few hours. Lucky for you, I won't be able to take all that much time with you." he said, "So let's get this show on this road."

He looked through his tools, knowing that he could probably only play around with one of them for a short while before he ended it and got rid of their body. He ended up going with a classic, his bare hands – before he had met one of the people who had abused his soul mate, beating someone to death had never really been his thing. But now that he had done it he couldn't understand why.

Because it was _fun_.

He moved over to his victim and braced his hand around the mans' throat as he pulled him up. Jack barely said another word as he punched the man in the face, impacting on his cheek. He hit, kicked, punched and smacked the man in every which way that he could.

His victim screamed and screamed until it seemed that his lungs were about to give out, trying for any sort of reprieve from his own inevitable death. Jack had to laugh at the pathetic display, the guy was all big and bad and evil up until the point that someone else got the upper hand. Once that happened he turned into a sniveling little bitch whining for his mommy.

He hit the man a few more times before he finally gave him a reprieve by wrapping his hands around his victims throat until he stopped thrashing. He kept them there, keeping his victims airways constricted for a good three minutes.

Once Jack was satisfied that his victim was dead, he made the preparations to get rid of the body and be back on his way home.

Water had to be his favorite method of disposal, it was just so damn effective – if it was a swamp then the body would be pulled down, preserved but unable to be retrieved for years. If it was a lake then water would wash away and contaminate whatever DNA evidence that he might have left behind. If it was a river no one would be entirely sure where exactly it was originally dumped.

Jack was filled with relief as he weighed his victim down in a mossy and polluted river. Nobody saw him, because of course they didn't, and even if someone did – it would only be one person and he could easily get him of them. The best thing that he found about these rural communities is that nobody ever seemed to be awake in the dead of night.

* * *

Jack returned home to his soul mate still sleeping – the drugs he had mixed in with Rhys' nightly tea did their job well enough and he wouldn't wake until morning. Jack eased his arms around the younger man, holding him protectively against his own body.

He didn't particularly like the idea of dosing Rhys with powerful sedatives every time that he went out of town and traveled off to the other settlements surrounding Opportunity to go and find someone that was stupid and anonymous enough for him to kill.

Plus, he could tell that Rhys didn't approve of Jack killing people – with good reason, even he knew that it was the worst hobby that anyone could ever have – and he was so obviously uncomfortable when and if Jack ever brought it up that it had become like a game of avoidance keep away for the two of them.

Still, it was better than letting Rhys in on just how much bloodshed he needed to keep calm and civil during his day to day life. If the younger man knew any more than he already did, then he would be practically complicit in his crimes and he wouldn't allow his soul mate to spend a day behind a prison cell.

No, it was easier and better for the younger mans' safety this way, he decided. Jack frowned and disentangled himself from his soul mate, he got up and made his way out of his bedroom at an almost lethargic pace.

He moved back into his study and went back to work studying all of Franks goings on. Admittedly, it became more than a little bit easier when Aurelia had gifted him all of the man – and his wife's too, as an added bonus – all the information that she could find. Credit cards, social security numbers, addresses, aliases.

He read through the files with clinical interest, Frank was shady enough that Jack was actually surprised he hadn't already been killed by someone else. Gambling, violence, sexual assault, bribes and even more disgusting things were listed in the file.

He also noticed that Frank had a job working with the sheriffs office in Sanctuary. He sighed, that meant that if Frank was tried for a crime – and looking at these, he probably had been – he would easily get off with at most a slap on the wrist.

That meant that Frank needed to die at his hand – he wasn't sure whether or not Rhys wished to be a

part of the hours of torture that he would be sure to inflict on his soul mates abuser but he could think of a way to ask the young man his preference. If Rhys did want to be a part of it – than he would have to make sure that his soul mate wasn't recognized in town.

Jack was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed that Gaige had sent him a message, on a whim he checked the text message and read through it.

 _ **Jack LilItH SAW Reese! That gurls bad juju! Did he alredy tell you? Oh snap! Whatever either way. Bad juju!**_

 _ ***Reeze?**_

 _ ***Rhys!**_

 _ **Ur boyfrnds name is hard to spell"**_

Jack groaned when he read through the entire message because Lilith following Rhys meant that killing Frank would come with more than a few problems. Lilith had been a "problem" for him for quite a while, she believed without a shadow of a doubt that Jack had killed her boyfriend. What was his name? He was sure that it started with an "R" but that was all that he could really remember.

He supposed that he could kill her and then Frank, or at least make sure that she was indisposed for a while…he could have one of his seedier friends get her out of the way. Wilhelm probably, he would do anything for large amounts of cash.

"Why does everything have to be so damn complicated?" He groaned, putting his face in his hands. Going the nonviolent route drove him more than a little crazy but it all became worth it when he thought of how happy it might make his soul mate.

But with Lilith in the mix, Jack felt like it was a little smarter to get rid of the man… and maybe use the shady information that he received about him as motive for Franks untimely death.


	11. Chapter 11

It was not as if Jack had never worried about the presence of Lilith before – he had, because she was a pain in the ass and tenacious as all hell. He would be an idiot, not to mention a piss poor excuse for a serial killer if he didn't worry about someone trying to oust him every now and then.

The thing was that Lilith had been irrelevant in his life for so long that he had almost forgot about her, so much so that she could have violently and publicly died in front of his building and he wouldn't have even registered her existence – that was how little he had thought of her over the past few years.

For Lilith to just appear out of nowhere and start harassing Rhys – who had never done much of anything wrong and really didn't deserve to be lumped in with the convoluted, messy history that he had with that woman – seemed like the only way that she could have come back into his life.

Lilith was a firestorm of destruction in and of herself and she was obsessed with the idea of him being the one that killed her cop boyfriend and was so intent on seeing him behind bars that she refused to understand that Jack would never kill a cop. He had no reason to and even if he did, only drugged out idiots did that sort of thing.

He was lucky enough that he found out pretty quickly after the fact – if a little annoyed by the fact that Rhys didn't feel safe enough to let him know himself. Jack looked over at his soul mate and daughter as they all lay together, packed in tight on Jacks' sofa for a movie night as a final note of one of Jacks' rare days off.

Angel was fast asleep and Rhys wasn't far behind her, his eyes fluttering open and shut as he tried to fight his sleep. Jack smirked and looked over at his soul mate, "Hey there cupcake." he hummed, smiling more as Rhys almost unconsciously perked up at Jacks' voice. "Enjoying the movie?"

"Hey there." Rhys parroted in a volume loud enough for Jack to hear but soft enough not to awaken the sleeping girl curled up between the two of them. "Are you alright?" he asked, furrowing his brows in concern at the older man, "You look… pensive."

He let out a chuckle at that, "Shit. Do I?" he asked in a joking tone, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me, alright? I'm just thinking about the whole… Lilith situation."

"Oh…" Rhys exclaimed softly, "Did you do it?" he had to ask, because knowing Jack it was definitely within the realm of possibility. The simple fact was that his soul mate killed people as a way to wind down and relax and even if Jack hadn't done it, Lilith could end up being the canary in the coal mine.

"No." he replied in a quick, almost flippant tone. He almost didn't believe that Rhys would even have to ask, "I didn't."

"Alright." Rhys hummed, "I know you wouldn't lie to me, I just… had to ask." he paused as he tried to word what he wanted to ask the right way, "Is she as bad as Gaige made her out to be… I mean, should I be worried about her trying to hurt Angel or me?"

"I don't think that she would hurt either of you." Jack reassured but he wasn't entirely sure of it. All he knew for sure was that if Lilith hurt either of the important people in his life – he would kill her and it didn't matter to him if he ended up in prison for the rest of his life. "But…"

Rhys snorted as he interjected, "There's always a but."

"Buuuuuuuut," Jack continued on, giving Rhys a mockery of a dirty look. "I'm not leaving Angels safety or your safety up to chance." he said, "So I'm calling in someone to protect the two of you just in case I won't be able to."

"Wait," Rhys interjected, worrying his lower lip nervously. "um, Jack why wouldn't you be able to protect us?"

Jack gave Rhys a strange sort of look, like he knew exactly where Rhys' train of thought was going and he wanted to nip that in the bud before the younger man ended up panicking again. "I don't know." he admitted, "but something might happen to me or I might not be there with you if something happens and I promised you a long time ago that I would protect you no matter what." he kissed the corner of Rhys' mouth. "Please don't make a liar outta me, Rhysie."

Rhys took a moment to think about everything before he inevitably agreed, "Am I going to meet this guy or…"

"I'll have you two meet, so you know his face. But he'll be shadowing you or Angel whenever you two are out." Jack explained, "With any luck you won't even know he's there."

Rhys hummed affirmatively, "Okay, that's fine." he said, "Can we watch _A New Hope_ next?" he asked with a subtle sort of desperation to change the subject. Jack looked over at his soul mate and gave the younger man a pleased grin, "Sure thing, sugar."

The three of them watched cheesy movies together until Rhys and Angel had fallen asleep, then Jack took the opportunity to gently disentangle himself from the two of them. He stood up and walked off to his study, securing the door closed and locked once he was in there.

Jack dug his phone out of his pocket and sighed, tapping on his brothers' number. Truthfully, he didn't expect much to come of it – Tim didn't want a thing to do with him since he had killed their grandmother and Jack had never been able to blame him for it.

Jack knew that that just wasn't something most people would be able to move past and it was an anomaly that Rhys had so quickly forgiven him and accepted that his soul mate was a killer. To his surprise, someone answered the call with a groggy, _"Hello?"_

"Tim?" he exclaimed in a questioning tone, "Is this Timothy Lawrence?"

" _Yeah, who is this?"_

"Uh, your twin brother." Jack replied, half affronted that Timothy didn't even seem to remember him at all and half delighted that he even answered. "Remember me? Jack? We grew up together, got our asses beat every day by our Nana?" his voice became a little more mocking in cadence with every word that he spoke. "Ringing any bells, Tim-Tams?"

" _Yeah, yeah Jack. I remember."_ Tim snapped back, _"I remember… everything. How could I forget? What do you want?"_ Despite himself, Jack laughed a little. His little brother was a little more acerbic than he had ever remembered him to be and it barely suited him. _"We haven't spoken for years and you call me in the middle of the night, so just- let's just get this over with."_

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted to catch up with my baby brother?" he asked back rhetorically, "You said so yourself, 'we haven't spoken for years'. Maybe I wanted to catch up with you."

"Jack, please just tell me what you want." Timothy whined, patience already running thin. "I don't want to play any more mind games and it's already past midnight, I can't deal with you when you're like this and you are always like this. Can you please just take me seriously for one second and respect me enough not to do this to me?"

"I'm not always like th-" Jack stopped himself from making this even worse, he ran his hand through his hair almost neurotically as he spoke, "Look, I'm… sorry, alright. Just, ah, would ya get me in touch with Wilhelm? I know you two are together and I was planning on hiring him again."

"Why didn't you just call him yourself?"

"Lost his number cause I – it doesn't matter, just let him know." Jack snapped, "and I'll let you go cause I don't want to keep bothering you and I gotta go check on my daughter and my… I gotta go."

"Oh. Alright, well I'll just… let him know tomorrow then." Tim hung up then, before the call could get even more awkward and before one of them ended up saying something stupid and potentially permanently damaging for whatever relationship they even still had with one another.

Jack sighed and leaned back, annoyance besetting his features, as the dial tone rung out. It took a lot more restraint than he would be proud to admit not to chuck the glittery smart phone across the room and it took much more restraint than even that not to scream when he heard a timid knock on his door.

"Who is it?" he called back, delighted yet completely unsurprised when he heard his soul mate call back with a shy utterance of, "It's me. Can I come in?"

Jack stood up and unlocked the door, ushering Rhys in from where he stood. The younger man immediately noticed how on edge Jack seemed and moved in to comfort his soul mate. "Are you okay?" he asked, moving in a little closer to the older man with a carefulness that Jack had come to expect from his soul mate. "You look really upset."

The older man sighed and walked Rhys with him back to where he was sitting, he sat down on the chair and patted his lap, "Come sit with me." he said. Rhys gave Jack a nervous, lip biting grin as he sat himself down in the older mans' lap. Jack playfully squeezed Rhys' ass, eliciting a surprised squeak from his soul mate as he did so. "I had a really awful, awkward call with my brother is all, just didn't expect things to still be so weird between us."

"You have a brother? I didn't know that." Rhys blurted out first without thinking and then when he managed to curb his own impulses, "Do you want to talk about it? I've been told that I'm a great listener."

Jack let out a short laugh and changed the subject. "You are so precious." he complimented the younger man, taking Rhys organic hand and intertwining their fingers together. "Angel keeps yelling at me to marry you already." He laughed a bit, "You know, I keep telling her that people don't get married when they haven't known each other for more than a year but she doesn't care about logistics."

Rhys hummed noncommittally, leaning in to the older mans' protective embrace. "Angel would be the cutest flower girl," he noted softly and Jack could feel the tiny smile on his soul mates' face, "That might be why she wants us to get married. She's such a sweet girl."

Jack pulled Rhys up slightly so that the younger man was looking at him more directly, "Do you want to ask about my brother, Rhysie? You can ask, if you want. I won't get mad." He assured the younger man. Rhys hesitated, worried his lower lip as he did so, before he said anything. "Yes, yeah I- I do want to know but I don't want to intrude or anything…" Jack nodded understandingly, knowing the way that his soul mate was. "But I would like to know about him, if that's okay."

The older man nodded curtly at that, "Alright. He's my twin brother, we were born about three minutes apart." he said, "We used to be really close and now… we are not. For a crap load of reasons, we haven't spoken in years but he's engaged to one of my security guys, Wilhelm." Jack sighed, "I lost Wilhelm's number and I knew that he would have it. His name's Timothy, just in case you wanted to know."

Rhys frowned, "Oh… that's terrible. I'm sorry, Jack, I… can't imagine how hard that is for you. I couldn't even think of how difficult it is to have family so close but you can't…" he suddenly trailed off, not looking the older man directly in the eyes out of nervousness. "I, I'm making this worse, right? Yeah, I'll just stop talking right now. Just ignore me, I'm being stupid."

"It's not a big deal, kiddo." Jack told him, with surprising honesty. "It's, uh, it's old baggage. The whole thing with me and Tim happened- we stopped talking when I was… younger than you." he pulled a face as he briefly thought of everything that had happened between them.

"I don't even think I was eighteen by that point and it's…" he sighed and trailed off, "Just don't worry about it, alright? You know that you're pretty freaking expressive, right? So I can tell that your feeling guilty about me making that call and it's not your fault, sweet heart."

Rhys' eyes widened a bit at that and he pursed his lips in surprise at the revelation and Jack laughed, "Yeah, see that's exactly what I'm talking about." the older man said. "I mean, don't get me wrong it's pretty freaking cute."

Rhys scoffed a bit at that as he tried to disentangle himself from the older man, only to be pushed back into the embrace. "Stay with me," he whined mockingly to Rhys, before kissing down the slope of the younger mans' neck. "Come on, I'm emotionally vulnerable here." he said.

"No you're not." The younger man pointed out in a flippant tone, but he didn't squirm anymore and accepted his fate of being cuddled by his soul mate. "I could be," Jack replied, "You never know."

Rhys scoffed again and rolled his eyes a bit, "Whatever." he murmured as he settled himself down, getting completely comfortable in Jacks' lap. "My soul mates a jerk." he declared, in a soft and sleepy tone, "I wanna do over."

Jack cooed at that as Rhys grumbled wordlessly, clutching at the older mans shirt and nuzzling into him while he complained, "I don't think the universe does do overs, Rhysie. You're stuck with me, I know it's a real shame having to live with a rich, handsome guy who treats you like royalty." He quipped.

Rhys tried not to smile, "Oh shush, you know I appreciate you." he said before moving to give his soul mate a quick and chaste kiss on the lips, "I love you, Jack." he said while looking at the older man seriously, "You're my hero. How could I not love you?"

Jack couldn't help but feel a little smug as Rhys said that – he couldn't help it that he really liked the way that, "You're my hero." rolled off of his soul mates tongue. It sounded good to him.

The next day, Jack got some distressing and – objectively – awful news. Apparently, Wilhelm had taken a job with someone else – one that would last him a few weeks at that, just to make matters even worse – before he had known that Jack wanted to hire him.

When he found that out, Jack almost screamed his head off at the enforcer and he barely managed to curb himself before he hung up on them man. After Wilhelm was off the line, however, was an entirely different story and he quickly called up his secretary who, as he expected, answered in a heartbeat.

"Yes sir?" Meg answered in an annoyingly timid tone, Jack sighed in annoyance at it – he would deal with that later, he decided – before he spoke. "Meg, sweetheart, I'm gonna need you to do something for me." he said in a tone that was little more than an over the top, parody of what someone friendly would sound like. "Can you call in a meeting for me?"

"Oh, with the board?" She asked, just to make sure and although Jack knew that, he couldn't help but feel aggravated by the question anyway. "No with my grandmother." He snapped, "Of course with the board, have them come in within the hour and I don't care what they're doing, tell them that if they aren't there, then they are fucking fired."

"Yes, sir." His secretary replied as he quickly moved to end the call, "I'll get right on tha-" and the line clicked out before she was able to finish her sentence. He groaned a little more, letting it wrench out and develop into a primal scream – it was pure frustration with his situation, especially considering that he wasn't entirely sure how his soul mate would react to it.

After a moment, he hit "Fuck It" and just decided to call up the younger man. He was antsy the whole time that the dial tone rang out, feeling existential and worried about his soul mates well being and the feeling only got worse with every moment that Rhys didn't answer his call. It was only when he was answered with a chipper, "Hey!" from his soul mate that he managed to relax.

"Hey, princess." Jack hummed, trying for a relaxed tone. "Just calling to check up on ya, Rhysie, so how are you doing?" he asked, "I mean, everything's alright with you. Right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'm just… studying, actually." The younger man answered in a hesitant way, "I started taking a few online classes about a week ago. Nothing intense just, like, a foreign language class and abnormal psychology. I mean that's okay right? I can drop them if it's too expensive…?"

"It's not too expensive, keep on taking 'em." Jack said and then chuckled a bit, "It's just kinda funny to me that I give you practically free reign to spend whatever cash you want on whatever you want…and what do you do? Go to school. Can't believe that my soul mate's such a nerd." he said.

Rhys giggled, "Well, sorry I don't like to do drugs and buy expensive suits." he replied, almost defensive in his tone. "and I'm having fun learning a few new things." he said, "It's helping me, you know? I need to keep myself busy so I can keep distracted from… everything that's happened."

He could practically hear Rhys' awkward hand motions as the younger man spoke to him, "Um, but anyways… what did you call me up for? I mean, I didn't mean it like-" Rhys sighed with frustration at himself, gearing himself up into a full on rambling rant. "I mean that you're probably really busy with Hyperion and I'm usually the one making impromptu calls and…I know I can be pretty needy, sorry about that." the younger man trailed off, not sure where he was going with that statement. "What I'm trying to say is, did anything happen? With that… woman, the one who… well you know. Or with anything else?"

Jack laughed, "Uh, no, not exactly. Wilhelm can't work with me for some time." he explained, "I got frustrated is all. I wanted to call you, because you know just how to calm me down." he added, "So I feel loads better because of that, and I've got a meeting with my board of executives. I'm gonna scare the crap outta them, pumpkin, it's gonna be awesome."

"Jack, that's so mean!" Rhys said, sounding both amused and mortified at the same time and he giggled a little bit with nervousness before saying anything else. "You can't be mean like that to people. That's not a conducive work environment." he added.

Jack made a thoughtful noise at that, not offended in the least by his soul mates protestations. "Well, I think we have very different ideas on how to run a company." he quipped back. Rhys chuckled a bit at that, "Well, I suppose that we do." The younger man quipped back in a mockingly serious tone.

Jack grinned, he couldn't help it. "I gotta go, sugar cube. I like to come in ten minutes early when I have one of these meetings. Really scares the crap out of 'em." Rhys giggled at that.

"Okay, handsome." The younger man agreed, before he huffed, "Wait, uh, Angel wants to go to a sleepover at a friends house. I think her name might be Tina? Is that okay? She asked me and I told her that I would ask you so-"

"Tell her that she can go if she gives Tina's, or whoever it is parent's, my number and your number just in case of emergencies." Jack said quickly, "She might want to leave or… something. You know."

"Okay, sure thing." Rhys agreed, "Love you, bye." Once he was off of the line, Jack sat down in his chair and decompressed for barely a moment before he got up and strutted into his meeting – ready to tear down an entire group of over privileged idiots that he kept around for little more reason then just that. It was something that he needed on occasion, a primal ritual that kept him sane when he felt like his world was shattering around him in more pieces than he would ever be able to pick up.

* * *

Although Rhys was happy to spend his time taking care of Angel – Jack had already done so much for him and he was happy to help out in every way that he could – he was happy to have a night of complete quiet while he wrote up a five thousand word essay on the social ramifications of Freudian psychology…that he was doing for fun. He chuckled to himself when he realized that Jack was right, he was a nerd.

Not that he hadn't known that about himself – just that it had never been so obvious to him before that moment. Though after barely a moment of thinking on it done, Rhys shrugged to himself.

"Whatever," he said to himself out loud. "It's not like being smart or ambitious wouldn't be a good quality to have." It was easy for him to get lost in school and books – he was good at school, he was smart and he worked hard and with how paranoid he had been feeling in the past few weeks he really needed the distraction. He needed to be absorbed into something, anything that wouldn't have him noticing every sound and every movement and hyper analyzing it so he could determine whether or not that was his step father, coming for him – ready to hurt him, rape him or even kill him.

He knew that it was irrational – most definitely an unhealthy behavior – but most of the time, he couldn't help it. It was always picking at the back of his brain, like a tick that continuously and endlessly screeched, _"FRANK-FRANK-FRANK"_ over and over againuntil he felt like his brain was filled with white noise, tangible white noise that could explode and was ready to at any given moment. It was a horrible sensation that never failed to make him feel like a crazy person.

Even thinking about it had him feeling anxiety, whenever he allowed himself to think on it – so Rhys opted to bury it. At least for now because he couldn't live the rest of his life looking around every corner. He couldn't allow himself to be that person – no scratch that – he wouldn't allow himself to be that person anymore. Oddly enough, Lady Hammerlock had been the one that had given him that advice in the first place. Sort of, kind of, along the same line of thinking at the very least.

" _You seem very…" the Baroness struggled for the words, "Reliant on Jack." she said, and the way that she poised the words worried him a bit. He felt like he was judging her, and rightly so at that, but he couldn't put it on his finger why she would be. She barely knew him and he barely knew her and he had expected this to something cordial instead of something… like this, he couldn't even describe it._

" _I'm not sure what you mean." He replied in a way that was polite, defensive and purposefully vague all at the same time. His composure only managed him for a few moments before he was rambling, "Or what you're trying to say or imply and, you know what, I don't really think it's any of your business how Jack and I handle our relationship and I-" he was cut off by Lady Hammerlock putting a hand up, almost like she was a crossing guard, to tell him to stop talking._

" _I don't mean to offend you, dear." She said, prim and proper as ever. It really intimidated him, the way she naturally acted, and it showed in him. In all the things about him, his body language and expressions, and he most likely looked like a scolded child to her. Small and pitiful."I just think that you have a very skewed idea of who Jack is. What kind of person that he can be, when he wants to be, and what kind of person that he actually is. You seem like a sweet person, and I truly don't understand how Jack could be soul mates with someone so genuine, I don't want you to be disappointed."_

" _I love him." Rhys muttered, feeling more and more petulant by the second. "Shouldn't that be all that matters?" The look on her face told him her exact reaction to what Rhys had just said – no, absolutely not. "Well, I will try to make myself more independent. If it makes you feel better," he said, more in a placating manner. Truthfully, he didn't understand this woman at all – or even how Jack would know someone like her – and his instincts told him to be extremely careful around her._

 _Hammerlock didn't seem fazed by his defensive behavior in the least, "I said what I needed to say, do what you will with it. It's not my business." she said and he had even less of a clue on how he should react to that than anything else that she had said to him._

 _He knew that she was right, in a way that he doubted she had full knowledge of. Jack had his flaws and they were flaws that might have anyone else running for the hills. Jack killed people. He was a killer and Rhys knew that was deal breaker territory for most people. But not Rhys – all Rhys knew was that he loved Jack and that he would do anything for him. Jack was his_ _soul mate_ _,_ _his hero,_ _the love of his life_ _and_ _he couldn't_ _think of a reason why he should want to be far away from him. Not ever._

Rhys had become a little more independent in the last weeks – in small and mainly insignificant sort of ways. He clung to Jack a little less, spent a little more time with his friends, went to do things on his own a little more and he had just started a few classes at the local college. He was slowly but surely morphing himself into a real, well adjusted adult and it was much easier for him to be well adjusted these days.

He jumped when he heard a loud noise, coming from down the hall. "It's nothing," he murmured to himself, "You're being paranoid, Rhys. Just focus on Freud, focus on Freud. Everything will be fine, there's no way that anyone could be here. There's no place safer than with Jack." He kept murmuring comforting things, to bring himself back to reality.

Then he heard another noise and he visibly flinched, terrified of all of the implications of it. "It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing." he whimpered, becoming more and more anxious by the second. He put his hands over his ears, trying to mute out what could have easily been just his imagination making things worse for him inside of his head. "Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. He's not here, it's not him." he said and kept saying it like a broken record.

After he did enough chanting, he managed to convince himself that it was true and he was entirely safe and sound in Jacks' home and after enough time spent typing – about four hours, without any breaks because that would just interrupt his focus and cause him more anxiety – Rhys decided to take a break for his own sanity's sake. He needed coffee and something to eat that wasn't ice cream – no matter how much he loved it – or those pretzels that Jack seemed to buy in bulk.

He needed real sustenance and caffeine in his system, and that meant cooking something in the kitchen… and that meant leaving the space inside his and Jack's room that he had been occupying. It scared him in ways that he wasn't sure that he was equipped to deal with, not now and not any time in the near or distant future.

He was still a little freaked out by what he thought might have been the lingering presence of his step father in his new home but he didn't think he should keep living his life based on paranoid instincts and worrying about what might be or could be. He couldn't even go into the kitchen in his own house because he was so scared. Rhys really didn't want to be the type of person that would let their past trauma's control him and, for a while he had been that type of person.

Rhys sighed out and got himself up on slightly shaky legs, moving to the door to his room so that he could unlock it. Once he got himself down the hall, the atmosphere felt wrong – physically and tangibly wrong, like he was breathing in carbon monoxide and he could taste it in the air – but he chose to ignore it. When he turned around to see the horrifying visage of his step father in front of him, he wished that he hadn't.

"Hello, Rhys." Frank said, tone full of sarcasm and an oiliness in his expression that was physically tangible. Rhys could not bring himself to form the words to scream as he saw him – he was just as terrifying to him now as he was when Rhys was small and he was trapped in his home. "Miss me?"

"You're not s-supposed to be here." he whispered before he shouted it, "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE." Rhys' instincts were right and he had never in his life wanted more than to be wrong.

His step father's expression did nothing to quell any of his worries. If anything, the supposed reality of his situation just became worse and worse off for him. "W-what are you doing here, Frank? This isn't- this isn't Sanctuary you c-can't just hurt me here." He said, in a voice so tiny and so full of terror that he felt like if Frank got any closer he would shrink again and completely disappear.

Frank didn't answer his questions, at least not directly. "I've been hearing things about you, Rhys, it looks like your sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." he said, his tone threatening and frighteningly dark. "So it looks like I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson again. Just like old times."

"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about but y-you need to leave or I will- I'll call the cops. So please just leave." he pleaded with the man, still terrified of him. "If you leave right now I will forget the whole thing," he lied because once Frank was gone he was going to call Jack and the cops and everybody else that he could. "Please, Frank, please just leave."

"What are you gonna do, Rhys?" Frank mocked him, "All you are is a pathetic little one armed whore that's afraid of his own shadow, you can't fool me into thinking that you can do anything." Every step that Rhys took backwards, Frank took forwards until the young man was boxed in with his abuser's hands around his throat. "You've always been pathetic and you're always gonna be pathetic."

He punctuated his statement by pushing Rhys down on the ground, the young man hitting his head on the counter as he fell to the ground in a pathetic heap. Thankfully, he was only down for a moment before he was up and running off to escape Franks grasp. His vision spotted as he tried to crawl, half on his feet and half on his knees, away from his step father.

"You're…not… doing… this to me… again." Rhys protested as he was chased, every word that he spoke coming out slower and slower as his vision faded out to black. The last thing he saw was his step father towering over him and the last thing he felt was rough hands at his hips before everything went black and he became completely dead to the world.

* * *

It hadn't been either Jack or – thank god – Angel that had discovered Rhys curled up and bleeding on the kitchen floor. Jack had been working incredibly late on Helios and kept most all of Hyperion working late with him, while Angel had been away to spend the weekend with her brand new friends family.

Instead, the person that had rescued Rhys was the very person that Jack had meant to protect Rhys from in the first place. Jack hadn't even had Frank registered on his radar as a threat – as far as he had been concerned, Frank didn't matter. Frank was insignificant, a nuisance that he wanted to squash out of pure spite.

He had expected to kill Frank before anything like this could ever have the chance to happen and when he had received the call from Sanctuary Hospital's intensive care unit, Jack had been surprised in more ways than one.

Rhys had been brought in by a woman and she had agreed to stay until any of Rhys' emergency contacts showed up. He knew exactly who the woman was, specifically because she wanted to stay anonymous. Of course it had been Lilith, she had probably been there to witness most if not all of what had happened to Rhys and took him to the hospital after the fact.

Jack sighed, shaky and nervous, she didn't matter right now, he told himself. He couldn't focus on Lilith right now, because right now he needed to focus on Rhys. He clenched and unclenched his fists at odd intervals, trying to quell all of the heightened emotions that he was feeling. Jack practically ran into the hospital and up to the receptionists desk."Uh, yeah, I need to see Rhys Shapiro." Jack said, nerves on fire and ready to explode. "He was brought in a few hours ago, I'm his, uh, his emergency contact." he said to the medical secretary who sat at the front.

"Okay," She said, in a placating manner as she noticed Jacks' visible distress. "I'll send you through." she added as she looked up Rhys' information. "He's on floor eighteen, room six." she told him and before she could say anything obnoxiously sympathetic and placating, he was running off to mash at the elevators buttons.

"Why the hell do these things take so damn long?" he grumbled to himself as he continuously pushed the button. "Why don't they have some kind of emergency elevator and-" he sighed in frustration, knowing what he needed to do. "You know what? Fuck it." he said as he booked it towards the stairs.

Jack wasn't in bad shape at all, but after running up eighteen flights of stairs and down a long winding hall that had numbers that seemed to go backwards instead of forwards like they should have been, the first thing that he did once he was in Rhys' room was sit down for a few minutes to catch his breath.

After a few moments, he stood up to look over at his soul mate and felt sickened by the results. Rhys was unconscious with bruises covering most of him; around his throat, his shoulders, his legs and on side of his face and a few gashes in his cheek and forehead. He was hooked up to a respirator, because his attacker had almost crushed his windpipe and his cybernetic arm had been removed forcibly. Jack didn't even want to think of what kind of internal damage his soul mate had.

He turned around to see Lilith with a bit of horror painted across her face, he didn't say anything because he was too overwhelmed by what he had just seen. She didn't look any better, "What that man did to, to Rhys is fucking disgusting." She said, not really looking at Jack. "I should go." she said, out of nowhere. "You two will probably want to… talk, when he wakes up."

Jack rolled his eyes before he swallowed his pride, "Thank you for bringing him here. I appreciate it, really." he told her, trying for genuine gratitude and barely missing. "But if I ever find out you were at my home, or anywhere near it I will have you in a jail cell so fast that-" he almost screamed in frustration, "Just get out of here, I don't want to look at your face." he spat with pure venom in his voice and she bolted, just like he had expected her to.

Once she was gone, Jack pulled up a chair at Rhys' side. "I'm gonna be here for you the whole time, pumpkin." he told his soul mate while Rhys lay in what had to be a coma or something worse, "We're gonna figure this shit out, don't you worry."

Jack made a few calls; first to Maya – he offered to pay three times her normal rate to watch Angel 24-7 until Rhys was better – then to his work – he firmly told Blake to stand watch and not change anything while he was temporarily in charge, lest he wanted Jack to kick the shit out of him when he got back to work – and then to a realtor – he didn't think that Rhys would be happy being in the penthouse after what had happened and he had enough disposable income that he didn't need to take the risk – before he was one hundred percent ready to sit with Rhys full time, watch him and make any of the big decisions that needed to be made for his soul mates safety.

* * *

Months later, Rhys woke up to a room full of people, flowers and get well cards and letters. He yawned, sitting up slightly to find himself trapped in the confines of a hospital bed. "Hey guys…" he said, feeling overstimulated as all hell. "W-what's going on?" he asked the people in the room.

He wasn't given much of an answer, instead what he received was Angel climbing on to the hospital bed to give him a bone crushing hug and it took him a moment to register that she was crying on his shoulder. "Hey, Angel, honey… what's the matter?

"We thought you were gonna die!" Angel wailed, "They wouldn't let me see you and then I did and you looked so sick, it was so scary… we thought we were gonna lose you and, and…" she soon found herself getting lost in her sob filled blubbering.

"What?" Rhys balked, feeling more confused by the moment. At this point he was getting more questions than answers and he searched the eyes of the people in the room for some sort of answer.

Vaughn stepped up to the plate. "You've been in a coma for a few months." He supplied, trying to be as informative as he could without getting overwhelmed himself, "We, uh, well Jacks' been at your side for pretty much the entire time. It was cute, you know a little sickening too, but I guess it's nice to have that sort of thing – anyway, uh, they told us today that you started waking up so we all rushed over."

"Oh," Rhys exclaimed, feeling strangely calm. He wondered if he might have been in shock from everything, "It was Frank, right?" he asked and the looks that he received felt like there may as well have been a big, fat "YES" spelled out I,n a blocky neon sign. "It was… god, I'm such an idiot."

"Wait, why are you saying that?" Gaige asked, looking confused as all hell. "Cause, none of this is your fault so I don't really…" she trailed off with a shrug, "You… hm, you missed your birthday so we got you a little personal cake." she said, in a more chipper tone as she pushed the cake in Rhys' face. "Try some!" she said, giggling nervously. It was an obvious attempt to distract Rhys from his own anxiety and it didn't work, not even a little bit.

Rhys shook his head, "I can't believe I thought things were going to get better," he laughed bitterly, tears forming in his eyes. "Why did I think that? Things are _never_ going to be better for me." Rhys couldn't help it as he sobbed outright, "I re-really tried. I tried really hard to be… healthy and good and I can't- I knew something bad was going to happen. **I knew.** I knew and I ignored it, because I'm stupid. Why am I so stupid?!" Rhys was rocking back and forth, digging the fingers' of his organic hand into his thigh until they bled.

Jack – who had been quiet until then, simply because he didn't want to crowd his soul mate – decided to intervene in that moment. He quickly took Rhys hand in his own – comforting his soul mate and preventing the younger man from hurting himself at the same time – and squeezed it gently.

"Hey," he hummed softly, "It's okay, baby, it's okay. We'll figure this out, I am not going to let anyone ever hurt you again." he assured the younger man, using his other hand to stroke Rhys' hair. "I promise-" Jack sighed, "Look at me, Rhys." It took a few moments of gentle comforting before Rhys had calmed down enough to be able to look Jack in the eye and by that point he was still a sobbing, whimpering mess. "He is never. _Never._ Going to get to you again."

"How can you promise that?" Rhys whispered, voice hoarse from crying so much, "He already got to me, he-he almost killed me." he said in a frightened tone, "Jack, I could have died. I could have-"

Jack sighed, "Can you guys clear the hell out? I need to talk to Rhysie here." he snapped to the group of people behind them, "In private." he added with his voice deep and dangerous. Everyone cleared out of the room quickly with a nervous utterance of, "Okay, we'll be in the cafeteria…"

Rhys looked at him oddly, "How can you tell me that Frank can't hurt me anymore?" he asked again, a hopeful look in his eyes. "D-did something happen? With Frank. Jack, is he…" Rhys lowered his voice to a whisper, "Gone?"

Rhys had never thought of himself as the type of person to wish death upon another – he had prided himself on being nice to people and caring for them, forgiving people even if they didn't deserve it. He couldn't forgive anyone that did something like this to him. He almost died and he very well could have – he could never forgive anyone for doing something like this and all he felt for Frank – in some ways his own mother – was full on hatred that burnt within him from the inside out.

Not being afraid of his step father was so strange to him because he knew that Frank had scared him into submission so many times – he had done things like this to him more times than he could count and it had kept him living in fear for most of his life. He wasn't afraid now and it was incredibly strange to him.

"He's not dead, pumpkin." Jack told him, almost apologetic in nature. He lowered his voice down to a whisper, "But he will be, I'm not going to let you be afraid anymore."

"And until then?" Rhys asked, completely done with dancing around it. "Jack, I'm so- what if Angel saw me? I could have traumatized her and-"

"We moved." Jack told him, "To this really nice place right outside of town, it's nice and private. I also hired a guy, not Wilhelm but someone just as good, to uh, you know, keep you safe and crap." he said.

"How long was I in a coma?" Rhys asked, looking almost horrified. "But, I mean that's great! I just… god this is so… bad." he shook his head and Jack chuckled a bit, knowing that Rhys' flustered behavior meant that his soul mate was getting back to his normal self.

Rhys sighed with both relief and exasperation,"This is so messed up, but I guess that it could be a lot worse. I mean, who found me? Cause I gotta thank that person." he said, "Cause, you know, I might be dead if they hadn't found me."

Of course, Rhys wanted to know the one thing that Jack could never tell him. It would make things so much more complicated if he knew that Lilith had been in his home. So Jack hid his guilt in a mask that Rhys wouldn't have been able to see past, "It was a neighbor," he lied easily and right through his teeth, "She ran in and saw you, then she called me."

Rhys nodded, "To tell you the truth I don't remember much of that night," he admitted, "I'm just," he sighed, gathering his strength. "When this whole… thing happens with Frank… I want to be there and I want to hurt him."

Jack could never be more happy to oblige his soul mate, "Of course, pumpkin." he promised, "I couldn't think of it happening any other way.


End file.
